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THE CATHEDRALS OF 
SOUTHERN FRANCE 

By FRANCIS MILTOUN y^_^ 

AUTHOR OF "the CATHEDRALS 

of northern franc e," 
"dickens' London/' etc., 
with ninety illustrations, 
plans, and diagrams, 

By BLANCHE McMANUS 



lnyla.^yLAMjJ^ ^ 'tyuJU^L^x.g v-- 




BOSTON 

H. €• i^age anti Compani? 

MDCCCCV 



LIBRftRY n1 0OK6RESS 

Two OoDies RflCQived 

AUG 24 1904 

Oopyrlffhf Entry 

CLA8^ 0. XXo. Na 

^^ ^ <? 2f- 
COP Y B 



Copyright, igo4 

By L. C. Page & Company 

(incorporated) 



All rights reserved 



Published August, 1904 



Colonial ^rts0 

Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. SImonds & Co. 

Boston, Mass,, U. S. A. 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 



1 1 



Part I. Southern France in General 
I. The Charm of Southern France . . 23 

II. The Church in Gaul . . . -34 

III. The Church Architecture of Southern 

France ...••• 5° 





Part II. South of the Loire 






I. 


Introductory . . . . . • 7' 


II. 


L'Abbaye de Maillezais . 








81 


III. 


St. Louis de la Rochelle . 








82 


IV. 


Cathedrale de Lu9on 








85 


V. 


St. Front de Perigueux 








87 


VI. 


St. Pierre de Poitiers 








92 


VII. 


St. Etienne de Limoges 








104 


VIII. 


St. Odilon de St. Flour 








. 1 12 


IX. 


St. Pierre de Saintes 








. 115 


X. 


Cathedrale de Tulle 








. 118 


XI. 


St. Pierre d'Angouleme 








120 


XII. 


Notre Dame de Moulins 








. 126 


XIII. 


Notre Dame de le Puy 








. 134 


XIV. 


Notre Dame de Clermont-Ferrand 




. 144 


XV. 


St. Fulcran de Lodeve 


, 


• 




. 152 





Contents 








Part III. The Rhone Valley 


I. 


Introductory ...... 


II. 


St. Etienne de Chalons-sur-Saone 




III. 


St. Vincent de Macon 




IV. 


St. Jean de Lyon . 






V. 


St. Maurice de Vienne 






VI. 


St. Apollinaire de Valence 






VII. 


Cathedrale de Viviers 






VIII. 


Notre Dame d' Orange 






IX. 


St. Veran de Cavaillon . 






X. 


Notre Dame des Doms d'Avigi 


ion 




XI. 


St. SifFrein de Carpentras 






XII. 


Cathedrale de Vaison 






XIII. 


St. Trophime d'Arles 






XIV. 


St. Castor de Nimes 






XV. 


St. Theodorit d'Uzes 






XVI. 


St. Jean d'Alais 






XVII. 


St. Pierre d'Annecy 






XVIII. 


Cathedrale de Chambery . 






XIX. 


Notre Dame de Grenoble 






XX. 


Belley and Aoste 






XXI. 


St. Jean de Maurienne 






XXII. 


St. Pierre de St. Claude . 






XXIII. 


Notre Dame de Bourg 






XXIV. 


Glandeve, Senez, Riez, Sisteron 






XXV. 


St. Jerome de Digne 






XXVI. 


Notre Dame de Die 






XXVII. 


Notre Dame et St. Castor d'Apt 




XXVIII. 


Notre Dame d'Embrun . 




XXIX. 


Notre Dame de PAssomption d 


e Ga] 


) 



PAGE 





Contents 






PAGB 


XXX. 


Notre Dame de Vence . , , ,300 


XXXI. 


Cathedrale de Sion .... 302 


XXXII. 


St. Paul Troix Chateau . . , .305 




Part IV. The Mediterranean Coast 


I. 


Introductory . . . . , .313 


II. 


St. Sauveur d'Aix .... 




323 


III. 


St. Reparata de Nice 




328 


IV. 


Ste. Marie Majeure de Toulon 




332 


V. 


St. Etienne de Frejus 




335 


VI. 


^glise de Grasse .... 




339 


VII. 


Antibes ...... 




341 


VIII. 


Ste. Marie Majeure de Marseilles 




342 


IX. 


St. Pierre d'Alet . . , . 




350 


X. 


St. Pierre de Montpellier 




. 352 


XI. 


Cathedrale d'Agde . . , , 




358 


XII. 


St. Nazaire de Beziers 




. 363 


XIII. 


St. Jean de Perpignan 




. 368 


XIV. 


Ste. Eulalia d'Elne 




. 372 


XV. 


St. Just de Narbonne 




. 375 




Part V. The Valley of the Garonne 


I. 


Introductory . . „ . , .383 


II. 


St. Andre de Bordeaux , 






. 396 


III. 


Cathedrale de Lectoure 






. 402 


IV. 


Notre Dame de Bayonne 






. 405 


V. 


St. Jean de Bazas . 






. 411 


VI. 


Notre Dame de Lescar . 






. 413 


VII. 


L'Eglise de la Sede : Tarbes 






. 417 


VIII. 


Cathedrale de Condom . 






. 420 



vu 



Contents 



IX. Cathedrale de Montauban 

X. St. Etienne de Cahors 

XI. St. Caprias d'Agen . 

XII. Ste. Marie d'Auch . 

XIII. St. Etienne de Toulouse . 

XIV. St. Nazaire de Carcassone 
XV. Cathedrale de Pamiers 

XVI. St. Bertrand de Comminges 

XVII. St. Jean-Baptiste d'Aire . 

XVIII. Sts. Benoit et Vincent de Castres 

XIX. Notre Dame de Rodez . 

XX. Ste. Cecile d'Albi . 

XXI. St. Pierre de Mende 

XXII. Other Old-Time Cathedrals in and about the 
Basin of the Garonne 



422 

425 
429 

432 

439 

449 
461 

464 

469 

471 

474 
482 

490 
495 



Appendices 

I. Sketch Map Showing the Usual Geographical 

Divisions of France .... 

II. A Historical Table of the Dioceses of the 

South of France up to the beginning of 
the nineteenth century 

III. The Classification of Architectural Styles in 

France according to De Caumont's ** Abe- 
cedaire d'Architecture Religieuse " . 

IV. A Chronology of Architectural Styles in 

France ...... 

V. Leading Forms of Early Cathedral Construc- 
tions ....... 

VI. The Disposition of the Parts of a Tenth- 



503 



504 



520 



511 



513 



Contents 

PAGE 

Century Church as defined by Violet-le- 
Duc . . . . . . .514 

VII. A Brief Definitive Gazetteer of the Natural 
and Geological Divisions Included in the 
Ancient Provinces and Present-Day De- ' 
partments of Southern France, together 
with the local names by which the pays et 
pagi are commonly known . . .516 

VIII. Sketch Map of the Bishoprics and Arch- 
bishoprics of the South of France at the 
Present Day . . . . .5^9 

IX. Dimensions and Chronology . . .520 

Index 545 



IX 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



St. Andre de Bordeaux 

The Concordat (From Napoleon's Tomb) 

St. Louis de La Rochelle . 

Cathedrale de Lu9on 

St. Front de Perigueux 

Detail of the Interior of St. Front de Perigueux 

Poitiers .... 

St. Etienne de Limoges 

Reliquary of Thomas a Becket 

Cathedrale de Tulle . 

St. Pierre d'Angouleme . 

Notre Dame de Moulins . 

Notre Dame de Le Puy . 

Le Puy . 

The Black Virgin, Le Puy 

Notre Dame de Clermont-Ferrand 

St. Vincent de Macon 

St. Jean de Lyon 

St. Apollinaire de Valence 

St. Veran de Cavaillon 

Notre Dame des Doms d' Avignon 

Villeneuve-les- Avignon 

Notre Dame des Doms d' Avignon 

id 



Frontispiece 

43 

82 

85 

87 
90 

93 
105 

III 

118 
1 20 
1 26 

134 
138 

143 

144^ 

174 
176 

190 
. 200 

205 
facing 2 1 2 
facing 2 1 8 



facing 
facing 
facing 
facing 



facing 
facing 
facing 



List of Ilhtstrations 







PAGE 


St. Trophime d' Aries 


• • • 


228 


St. Trophime d'Arles 


facing 


228 


Cloisters, St. Trophime d'Arles 


. 


233 


St. Castor de Nimes 


. 


236 


St. Castor de Nimes 


. 


237 


St. Theodorit d'Uzes 


. 


245 


Cathedrale de Chambery . 


. 


255 


Notre Dame de Grenoble . 


• • . 


258 


St. Bruno ..... 


. . . 


261 


Belley 


. 


265 


St. Jean de Maurienne 


. 


269 


St. Pierre de St. Claude . . . 


facing 


272 


Notre Dame de Bourg 


. 


275 


Notre Dame de Sisteron . 


facing 


280 


St. Jerome de Digne 


■ • . 


283 


Notre Dame d'Embrun 


■ • . 


292 


The Ramparts of Aigues-Mortes 


. , 


320 


St. Sauveur d'Aix .... 


. . 


321 


Detail of Doorway of the Archbishop's Palac 


:e, Frejus . 


338 


Eglise de Grasse .... 


, , 


339 


Marseilles . . . ... 


. 


343 


The Old Cathedral, Marseilles . 


. 


345 


St. Pierre de Montpellier . . . . 


facing 


352 


Cathedrale d'Agde 




358 


St. Nazaire de Beziers 




361 


St. Jean de Perpignan . . 


. 


368 


Ste. Eulalia d'Elne 




372 


St. Just de Narbonne . . . . 


facing 


374 


Cloister of St. Just de Narbonne 


facing 


378 


Notre Dame de Bayonne . . . . 


facing 


404 



List of Illustrations 





, 


417 




facing 


424 




facing 


432 




facing 


438 




■ 


445 




facing 


448 



Eglise de la Sede, Tarbes . 

St. Etienne de Cahors 

Ste. Marie d'Auch . 

St. Etienne de Toulouse . 

Nave of St. Etienne de Toulouse 

St. Nazaire de Carcassonne 

The Old Cite de Carcassonne before and after the Res- 
toration ........ 

Two Capitals of Pillars in St. Nazaire de Carcassonne ; 
and the Rude Stone Carving of Carcas 

St. Nazaire de Carcassonne 

Cathedrale de Pamiers 

St. Bertrand de Comminges 

St. Jean-Baptiste d'Aire 

Sts. Benoit et Vincent de Castres 

Notre Dame de Rodez 

Choir-Stalls, Rodez . 

Ste. Cecile d'Albi . 

St. Pierre de Mende 

Sketch Map of France 

Medallion 

Leading Forms of Early Cathedral Constructions 

Plan of a Tenth Century Church 

Sketch Map of the Bishoprics and Archbishoprics 
South of France at the Present Day 

St. Caprias d'Agen (diagram) 

Baptistery of St. Sauveur d*Aix (diagram) . 

Ste. Cecile d'Albi (diagram) 

St. Pierre d'Angouleme (diagram) 

St. Trophime d' Aries (diagram) 



451 



• 


454 


facing 


454 


. 


461 


facing 


464 


. 


469 


facing 


470 


facing 


474 


. 


480 


facing 


482 


facing 


490 




503 




510 




513 




5H 


of the 






519 




520 




521 




522 




523 




524 



List of Illustrations 



Notre Dame des Doms d' Avignon (diagram) 

St. Etienne de Cahors (diagram) 

St. Veran de Cavaillon (diagram) 

Cathedrale de Chambery (diagram) 

Notre Dame de Clermont-Ferrand (diagram 

St. Bertrand de Comminges (diagram) 

Notre Dame de Le Puy (diagram) 

St. Etienne de Limoges (diagram) 

St. Jean de Lyon (diagram) 

St. Just de Narbonne (diagram) . 

Notre Dame d' Orange (diagram) 

St. Front de Perigueux (diagram) 

St. Jean de Perpignan (diagram). 

St. Pierre de Poitiers (diagrams) . 

Notre Dame de Rodez (diagram) 

St. Etienne de Toulouse (diagram) 

St. Paul Trois Chateaux (diagram) 

Cathedrale de Vaison (diagram) . 



PAGE 

528 
529 

532 
532 

533 
535 
536 
537 
537 
538 
539 

541 
542 

543 



XIV 



qOOIOCNE 

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XCMdOUAS 



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# 



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R^E 



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I 




The Cathedrals 
of Southern France 

INTRODUCTION 

Too often — it is a half-acknowledged delu- 
sion, however — one meets with what appears 
to be a theory: that a book of travel must 
necessarily be a series of dull, discursive, and 
entirely uncorroborated opinions of one who 
may not be even an intelligent observer. This 
is mere intellectual pretence. Even a humble 
author — so long as he be an honest one — 
may well be allowed to claim with Mr. How- 
ells the right to be serious, or the reverse, 
"with his material as he finds it;" and that 
" something personally experienced can only 
be realized on the spot where It was lived." 
This, says he, is '' the prime use of travel, and 
the attempt to create the reader a partner in 
the enterprise "... must be the excuse, then, 
for putting one's observations on paper. 

II 



Introduction 

He rightly says, too, that nothing of peril- 
ous adventure is to-day any more like to 
happen '' in Florence than in Fitchburg." 

A " literary tour," a '' cathedral tour," or 
an '' architectural tour," requires a formula 
wherein the author must be wary of making 
questionable estimates ; but he may, with re- 
gard to generalities, — or details, for that 
matter, — state his opinion plainly; but he 
should state also his reasons. With respect 
to church architecture no average reader, any 
more than the average observer, willingly 
enters the arena of intellectual combat, but 
rather is satisfied — as he should be, unless he 
is a Freeman, a Gonse, or a Corroyer — with 
an ampler radius which shall command even a 
juster, though no less truthful, view. 

Not from one book or from ten, in one year 
or a score can this be had. The field is vast 
and the immensity of it all only dawns upon 
one the deeper he gets into his subject. A dic- 
tionary of architecture, a compendium or 
gazetteer of geography, or even the unwieldy 
mass of fact tightly held in the fastnesses of 
the Encyclopaedia Britannica will not tell one 
— in either a long or a short while — all the 
facts concerning the cathedrals of France. 

Some will consider that in this book are 

12 



Introduction 

made many apparently trifling assertions; but 
it is claimed that they are pertinent and again 
are expressive of an emotion which mayhap 
always arises of the same mood. 

Notre Dame at Rodez is a " warm, mouse- 
coloured cathedral;" St. Cecile d'Albi is at 
once " a fortress and a church," and the once 
royal city of Aigues-Mortes is to-day but " a 
shelter for a few hundred pallid, shaking 
mortals." 

Such expressions are figurative, but, so far 
as words can put it, they are the concentrated 
result of observation. 

These observations do not aspire to be con- 
sidered '' improving," though it is asserted 
that they are informative. 

Description of all kinds is an art which re- 
quires considerable forethought in order to be 
even readable. And of all subjects, art and 
architecture are perhaps the most difficult to 
treat in a manner which shall not arouse an 
intolerant criticism. 

Perhaps some credit will be attained for the 
attempts herein made to present in a pleasing 
manner many of the charms of the ecclesias- 
tical architecture of southern France, where a 
more elaborate and erudite work would fail 
of its object. As Lady Montagu has said in 

13 



Introduction 

her ^' Letters," — " We travellers are in very 
hard circumstances. If we say nothing new, 
we are dull, and have observed nothing. If 
we tell any new thing, we are laughed at as 
fabulous and romantic." 

This book is intended as a contribution to 
travel literature — or, if the reader like, to 
that special class of book which appeals 
largely to the traveller. 

Most lovers of art and literature are lovers 
of churches; indeed, the world is yearly con- 
taining more and more of this class. The art 
expression of a people, of France in particular, 
has most often first found its outlet in church- 
building and decoration. Some other coun- 
tries have degenerated sadly from the idea. 

In recent times the Anglo-Saxon has mostly 
built his churches, — on what he is pleased to 
think are ^^ improved lines," — that, more 
than anything else, resemble, in their inte- 
riors, playhouses, and in their exteriors, cot- 
ton factories and breweries. 

This seemingly bitter view is advanced 
simply because the writer believes that it is 
the church-members, using the term in its 
broad sense, who are responsible for the 
many outrageously unseemly church-build- 
ings which are yearly being erected ; not the 

14 



Introduction 

architects — who have failings enough of 
their own to answer for. 

It is said that a certain great architect of 
recent times was responsible for more bad 
architecture than any man who had lived 
before or since. Not because he produced 
such himself, but because his feeble imitators, 
without his knowledge, his training, or his 
ambition, not only sought to follow in his foot- 
steps, but remained a long way in the rear, and 
stumbled by the way. 

This man built churches. He built one. 
Trinity Church, in Boston, U. S. A., which 
will remain, as long as its stones endure, an 
entirely successful transplantation of an exotic 
from another land. In London a new Roman 
Catholic cathedral has recently been erected 
after the Byzantine manner, and so unexpect- 
edly successful was it in plan and execution 
that its author was '' medalled " by the Royal 
Academy; whatever that dubious honour may 
be worth. 

Both these great men are dead, and aside 
from these two great examples, and possibly 
the Roman Catholic cathedral, and the yet 
unachieved cathedral of St. John the Divine, 
in New York City, where, in an English- 
speaking land, has there been built, in recent 

15 



Introduction 

times, a religious edifice of the first rank 
worthy to be classed with these two old-world 
and new-world examples? 

They do these things better in France: 
VioUet-le-Duc completed St. Ouen at Rouen 
and the cathedral at Clermont-Ferrand, in 
most acceptable manner. So, too, was the treat- 
ment of the cathedral at Moulins-sur-AUier 
— although none of these examples are among 
the noblest or the most magnificent in France. 
They have, however, been completed suc- 
cessfully, and in the true spirit of the orig- 
inal. 

To know the shops and boulevards of Paris 
does not necessarily presume a knowledge of 
France. This point is mentioned here from 
the fact that many have claimed a familiarity 
with the cathedrals of France; when to all 
practical purposes, they might as well have 
begun and ended with the observation that 
Notre Dame de Paris stands on an island in 
the middle of the Seine. 

The author would not carp at the critics 
of the first volume of this series, which ap- 
peared last season. Far from it. They were, 
almost without exception, most generous. At 
least they granted, unqualifiedly, the reason for 
being for the volume which was put forth 

i6 



Introduction 

bearing the title: ''Cathedrals of Northern 
France." 

The seeming magnitude of the undertaking 
first came upon the author and artist while 
preparing the first volume for the press. This 
was made the more apparent when, on a cer- 
tain occasion, just previous to the appearance 
of the book, the author made mention thereof 
to a friend who did know Paris — better per- 
haps than most English or American writers; 
at least he ought to have known it better. 

When this friend heard of the inception 
of this book on French cathedrals, he mar- 
velled at the fact that there should be a de- 
mand for such; said that the subject had 
already been overdone; and much more of 
the same sort; and that only yesterday a cer- 
tain Miss had sent him an " author's 

copy " of a book which recounted the results 
of a journey which she and her mother had 
recently made in what she sentimentally called 
" Romantic Touraine." 

Therein were treated at least a good half- 
dozen cathedrals; which, supplementing the 
always useful Baedeker or Joanne, and a 
handbook of Notre Dame at Paris and an- 
other of Rouen, covered — thought the au- 



17 



Introduction 

thor's friend at least — quite a representative 
share of the cathedrals of France. 

This only substantiates the contention made 
in the foreword to the first volume : that there 
were doubtless many with a true appreciation 
and love for great churches who would be 
glad to know more of them, and have the 
ways — if not the means — smoothed in order 
to make a visit thereto the more simplified 
and agreeable. Too often — the preface con- 
tinued — the tourist, alone or personally con- 
ducted in droves, was whirled rapidly onward 
by express-train to some more popularly or 
fashionably famous spot, where, for a pre- 
viously stipulated sum, he might partake of 
a more lurid series of amusements than a 
mere dull round of churches. 

'^ Cities, like individuals, have," says Ar- 
thur Symons, " a personality and individuality 
quite like human beings." 

This is undoubtedly true of churches as 
well, and the sympathetic observer — the en- 
thusiastic lover of churches for their peculiar- 
ities, none the less than their general 
excellencies — is the only person who will 
derive the maximum amount of pleasure and 
profit from an intimacy therewith. 

Whether a great church is interesting be- 

i8 



Introduction 

cause of its antiquity, its history, or its artistic 
beauties matters little to the enthusiast. He 
will drink his fill of what offers. Occasion- 
ally, he will find a combination of two — or 
possibly all — of these ingredients; when his 
joy will be great. 

Herein are catalogued as many of the attri- 
butes of the cathedrals of the south of France 
— and the records of religious or civil life 
which have surrounded them in the past — as 
space and opportunity for observation have 
permitted. 

More the most sanguine and capable of 
authors could not promise, and while in no 
sense does the volume presume to supply ex- 
haustive information, it is claimed that all of 
the churches included within the classification 
of cathedrals — those of the present and those 
of a past day — are to be found mentioned 
herein, the chief facts of their history re- 
corded, and their notable features catalogued. 



19 



PART I 

Southern France in General 



THE CHARM OF SOUTHERN FRANCE 

The charm of southern France is such as 
to compel most writers thereon to become dis- 
cursive. It could not well be otherwise. 
Many things go to make up pictures of travel, 
which the most polished writer could not ig- 
nore unless he confined himself to narrative 
pure and simple; as did Sterne. 

One who seeks knowledge of the architec- 
ture of southern France should perforce know 
something of the life of town and country in 
addition to a specific knowledge of, or an 
immeasurable enthusiasm for, the subject. 

Few have given Robert Louis Stevenson 
any great preeminence as a writer of topo- 
graphical description; perhaps not all have 
admitted his ability as an unassailable critic; 
but the fact is, there is no writer to whom the 
lover of France can turn with more pleasure 
and profit than Stevenson. 

There is a wealth of description of the coun- 

23 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

try-side of France in the account of his ro- 
mantic travels on donkey-back, or, as he whim- 
sically puts it, '' beside a donkey," and his 
venturesome though not dangerous '' Inland 
Voyage." These early volumes of Stevenson, 
w^hile doubtless w^ell known to lovers of his 
works, are closed books to most casual travel- 
lers. The author and artist of this book here 
humbly acknowledge an indebtedness which 
might not otherwise be possible to repay. 

Stevenson was devout, he wrote sympa- 
thetically of churches, of cathedrals, of monas- 
teries, and of religion. What his predilections 
were as to creed is not so certain. Sterne was 
more worldly, but he wrote equally attractive 
prose concerning many things which English- 
speaking people have come to know more of 
since his time. Arthur Young, '' an agricul- 
turist," as he has been rather contemptuously 
called, a century or more ago wrote of rural 
France after a manner, and with a profuse- 
ness, which few have since equalled. His 
creed, likewise, appears to be unknown; in 
that, seldom, If ever, did he mention churches, 
and not at any time did he discuss religion. 

In a later day Miss M. E. B. Edwards, an 
English lady who knows France as few of her 
countrywomen do, wrote of many things more 

24 



The Cathedrals of Southern Fra^ice 

or less allied with religion, which the ordinary 
" travel books " ignored — much to their loss 

— altogether. 

Still more recently another English lady, 
Madam Marie Duclaux, — though her name 
would not appear to indicate her nationality, 

— has written a most charming series of ob- 
servations on her adopted land; wherein the 
peasant, his religion, and his aims in life are 
dealt with more understandingly than were 
perhaps possible, had the author not been pos- 
sessed of a long residence among them. 

Henry James, of all latter-day writers, has 
given us perhaps the most illuminating ac- 
counts of the architectural joy of great 
churches, chateaux and cathedrals. Cer- 
tainly his work is marvellously appreciative, 
and his '' Little Tour in France," with the 
two books of Stevenson before mentioned, 
Sterne^s ^* Sentimental Journey," — and Mr. 
Tristram Shandy, too, if the reader likes, — 
form a quintette of voices which will tell more 
of the glories of France and her peoples than 
any other five books in the English language. 

When considering the literature of place, 
one must not overlook the fair land of Pro- 
vence or the " Midi of France " — that little- 
known land lying immediately to the west- 

25 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ward of Marseilles, which is seldom or never 
even tasted by the hungry tourist. 

To know what he would of these two de- 
lightful regions one should read Thomas Jan- 
vier, Felix Gras, and Merimee. He will then 
have far more of an insight into the places 
and the peoples than if he perused whole 
shelves of histories, geographies, or technical 
works on archaeology and fossil remains. 

If he can supplement all this with travel, 
or, better yet, take them hand-in-hand, he will 
be all the more fortunate. 

At all events here is a vast subject for the 
sated traveller to grasp, and en passant he will 
absorb not a little of the spirit of other days 
and of past history, and something of the 
attitude of reverence for church architecture 
which is apparently born in every French- 
man, — at least to a far greater degree than 
in any other nationality, — whatever may be 
his present-day attitude of mind toward the 
subject of religion in the abstract. 

France, be it remembered, is not to-day as 
it was a century and a half ago, when it was 
the fashion of English writers to condemn 
and revile it as a nation of degraded serfs, 
a degenerate aristocracy, a corrupt clergy, or 
as an enfeebled monarchy. 

26 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Since then there has arisen a Napoleon, 
who, whatever his faulty morals may have 
been, undoubtedly welded into a united whole 
those widely divergent tendencies and senti- 
ments of the past, which otherwise would not 
have survived. This was prophetic and far- 
seeing, no matter what the average historian 
may say to the contrary; and it has in no small 
way worked itself toward an ideal success- 
fully, if not always by the most practical and 
direct path. 

One thing is certain, the lover of churches 
will make the round of the southern cathe- 
drals under considerably more novel and en- 
trancing conditions than in those cities of the 
north or mid-France. Many of the places 
which shelter a great cathedral church in the 
south are of little rank as centres of popula- 
tion; as, for instance, at Mende in Lozere, 
where one suddenly finds oneself set down in 
the midst of a green basin surrounded by 
mountains on all sides, with little to distract 
his attention from its remarkably picturesque 
cathedral; or at Albi, where a Sunday-like 
stillness always seems to reign, and its for- 
tress-church, which seems to regulate the very 
life of the town, stands, as it has since its 
foundation, a majestic guardian of well-being. 

27 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

There is but one uncomfortable feature to 
guard against, and that is the mistral, a wind 
which blows down the Rhone valley at certain 
seasons of the year, and, in the words of the 
habitant, "blows all before it." It is not 
really as bad as this, but its breath is uncom- 
fortably cold, and it does require a firm pur- 
pose to stand against its blast. 

Then, too, from October until March, south 
of Lyons, the nights, which draw in so early 
at this season of the year, are contrastingly and 
uncomfortably cold, as compared with the 
days, which seem always to be blessed with 
bright and sunshiny weather. 

It may be argued that this is not the sea- 
son which appeals to most people as being 
suitable for travelling. But why not? Cer- 
tainly it is the fashion to travel toward the 
Mediterranean during the winter months, and 
the attractions, not omitting the allurements 
of dress clothes, gambling-houses, and hah 
masques are surely not more appealing than 
the chain of cities which extend from Cham- 
bery and Grenoble In the Alps, through 
Orange, Nimes, Aries, Perpignan, Carcas- 
sonne, and the slopes of the Pyrenees, to 
Bayonne. 

In the departments of Lozere, Puy de 

28 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Dome, Gard and Auvergne and Dordogne, 
the true, unspoiled Gallic flavour abides in 
all its intensity. As Touraine, or at least Tours, 
claims to speak the purest French tongue, so 
this region of streams and mountains, of vol- 
canic remains, of Protestantism, and of an — as 
yet — unspoiled old-worldliness, possesses more 
than any other somewhat of the old-time so- 
cial independence and disregard of latter-day 
innovations. 

Particularly is this so — though perhaps it 
has been remarked before — in that territory 
which lies between Clermont-Ferrand and 
Valence in one direction, and Vienne and 
Rodez in another, to extend its confines to 
extreme limits. 

Here life goes on gaily and in animated 
fashion, in a hundred dignified and pictur- 
esque old towns, and the wise traveller will 
go a-hunting after those which the guide- 
books complain of — not without a sneer — 
as being dull and desultory. French, and for 
that matter the new regime of English, his- 
torical novelists are too obstinately bent on 
the study of Paris, " At all events," says Ed- 
mund Gosse, " since the days of Balzac and 
George Sand, and have neglected the pro- 
vincial boroughs." 

29 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

They should study mid-France on the spot; 
and read Stevenson and Merimee while they 
are doing it. It will save them a deal of 
worrying out of things — with possibly wrong 
deductions — for themselves. 

The climatic conditions of France vary 
greatly. From the gray, wind-blown shores 
of Brittany, where for quite three months of 
the autumn one is in a perpetual drizzle, and 
the equally chilly and bare country of the Pas 
de Calais, and the more or less sodden French 
Flanders, to the brisk, sunny climate of the 
Loire valley, the Cevennes, Dauphine, and 
Savoie, is a wide range of contrast. Each is 
possessed of its own peculiar characteristics, 
which the habitant alone seems to understand 
in all its vagaries. At all events, there is no 
part of France which actually merits the 
opprobrious deprecations which are occasion- 
ally launched forth by the residents of the 
" garden spot of England," who see no topo- 
graphical beauties save in their own wealds 
and downs. 

France is distinctly a self-contained land. 
Its tillers of the soil, be they mere agricul- 
turists or workers in the vineyards, are of a 
race as devoted and capable at their avoca- 
tions as any alive. 

30 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

They do not, to be sure, eat meat three 
times a day — and often not once a week — 
but they thrive and gain strength on what 
many an English-speaking labourer would 
consider but a mere snack. 

Again, the French peasant is not, like the 
English labourer, perpetually reminded, by 
the independence of the wealth surrounding 
him, of his own privations and dependence. 
On- the contrary, he enjoys contentment with 
a consciousness that no human intervention 
embitters his condition, and that its limits are 
only fixed by the bounds of nature, and some- 
what by his own industry. 

Thus it is easy to inculcate in such a people 
somewhat more of that spirit of ^^ r amour de 
la patrie'^ or love of the land, which in 
England, at the present time, appears to be 
growing beautifully less. 

So, too, with love and honour for their 
famous citizens, the French are enthusiastic, 
beyond any other peoples, for their monu- 
ments, their institutions, and above all for 
their own province and department. 

With regard to their architectural monu- 
ments, still more are they proud and well- 
informed, even the labouring classes. Sel- 
dom, if ever, has the writer made an inquiry 

31 



The Cathedrals of Southern Fra^ice 

but what it was answered with interest, if 
not with a superlative intelligence, and the 
Frenchman of the lower classes — be he a 
labourer of the towns or cities, or a peasant 
of the country-side — is a remarkably oblig- 
ing person. 

In what may strictly be called the south of 
France, that region bordering along the Med- 
iterranean, Provence, and the southerly por- 
tion of Languedoc, one is manifestly envi- 
roned with a mellowness and brilliance of 
sky and atmosphere only to be noted in a sub- 
tropical land, a feature which finds further 
expression in most of the attributes of local 
life. 

The climate and topographical features 
take on a contrastingly different aspect, as 
does the church architecture and the mode of 
life of the inhabitants here in the southland. 

Here is the true romance country of all 
the world. Here the Provengal tongue and its 
literature have preserved that which is fast 
fleeting from us in these days when a nation's 
greatest struggle is for commercial or political 
supremacy. It was different in the days of 
Petrarch and of Rabelais. 

But there are reminders of this glorious past 
yet to be seen, more tangible than a memory 

32 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

alone, and more satisfying than mere written 
history. 

At Orange, Nimes, and Aries are Roman 
remains of theatres, arenas, and temples, often 
perfectly preserved, and as magnificent as in 
Rome itself. 

At Avignon is a splendid papal palace, to 
which the Holy See was transferred by Clem- 
ent V. at the time of the Italian partition, in 
the early fourteenth century, while Laura's 
tomb, or the site of it, is also close at hand. 

At Clermont-Ferrand, in Auvergne, Pope 
Urban, whose monument is on the spot, urged 
and instigated the Crusades. 

The Christian activities of this land were 
as strenuous as any, and their remains are 
even more numerous and interesting. South- 
ern Gaul, however, became modernized but 
slowly,, and the influences of the Christian 
spirit were not perhaps as rapid as in the 
north, where Roman sway was more speedily 
annulled. Still, not even in the churches of 
Lombardy or Tuscany are there more strong 
evidences of the inception and growth of this 
great power, which sought at one time to rule 
the world, and may yet. 



Z2^ 



II 

THE CHURCH IN GAUL 

GUIZOT'S notable dictum, '' If you are fond 
of romance and history," may well be para- 
phrased in this wise: "If you are fond of 
history, read the life histories of great 
churches." 

Leaving dogmatic theory aside, much, if 
not quite all, of the life of the times in France 
— up to the end of the sixteenth century — 
centred more or less upon the Church, using 
the word in its fullest sense. Aside from its 
religious significance, the influence of the 
Church, as is well known and recognized by 
all, was variously political, social, and per- 
haps economic. 

So crowded and varied were the events of 
Church history in Gaul, it would be impos- 
sible to include even the most important of 
them in a brief chronological arrangement 
which should form a part of a book such as 
this. 

34 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

It is imperative, however, that such as are 
mentioned should be brought together in some 
consecutive manner in a way that should in- 
dicate the mighty ebb and flow of religious 
events of Church and State. 

These passed rapidly and consecutively 
throughout Southern Gaul, which became a 
part of the kingdom of the French but slowly. 

Many bishoprics have been suppressed or 
merged into others, and again united with 
these sees from which they had been sepa- 
rated. Whatever may be the influences of 
the Church, monastic establishments, or more 
particularly, the bishops and their clergy, to- 
day, there is no question but that from the 
evangelization of Gaul to the end of the nine- 
teenth century, the parts played by them were 
factors as great as any other in coagulating 
and welding together the kingdom of France. 

The very large number of bishops which 
France has had approximates eight thousand 
eminent and virtuous names; and it is to the 
memory of their works in a practical way, 
none the less than their devotion to preaching 
the Word itself, that the large number of 
magnificent ecclesiastical monuments have 
been left as their heritage. 

There is a large share of veneration and 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

respect due these pioneers of Christianity; 
far more, perhaps, than obtains for those of 
any other land. Here their activities were 
so very great, their woes and troubles so very 
oppressive, and their final achievement so 
splendid, that the record is one which stands 
alone. 

It is a glorious fact — in spite of certain 
lapses and influx of fanaticism — that France 
has ever recognized the sterling worth to the 
nation of the devotion and wise counsel of her 
churchmen; from the indefatigable apostles 
of Gaul to her cardinals, wise and powerful 
in councils of state. 

The evangelization of Gaul was not an easy 
or a speedy process. On the authority of 
Abbe Morin of Moulins, who, in La France 
Pontificale, has undertaken to " chronologize 
all the bishops and archbishops of France 
from the first century to our day," Christian- 
ity came first to Aix and Marseilles with 
Lazare de Bethanie in 35 or 36 A. D. ; fol- 
lowed shortly after by Lin de Besangon, 
Clement de Metz, Demetre de Gap, and Ruf 
d'Avignon. 

Toward the end of the reign of Claudian, 
and the commencement of that of Nero (54 - 
55 A. D.), there arrived in Gaul the seven 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Apostle-bishops, the founders of the Church 
at Aries (St. Trophime), Narbonne (St. 
Paul), Limoges (St. Martial), Clermont (St. 
Austremoine), Tours (St. Gatien), Toulouse 
(St. Saturnin), and Treves (St. Valere). 

It was some years later that Paris received 
within its walls St. Denis, its first Apostle of 
Christianity, its first bishop, and its first 
martyr. 

Others as famous were Taurin d'Evreux, 
Lucien de Beauvais, Eutrope de Saintes, 
Aventin de Chartres, Nicaise de Rouen, Sixte 
de Reims, Savinien de Sens, and St. Crescent 
— the disciple of St. Paul — of Vienne. 

From these early labours, through the three 
centuries following, and down through fifteen 
hundred years, have passed many traditions of 
these early fathers which are well-nigh leg- 
endary and fabulous. 

The Abbe Morin says further: ^' We have 
not, it is true, an entirely complete chronol- 
ogy of the bishops who governed the Church 
in Gaul, but the names of the great and noble 
army of bishops and clergy, who for eighteen 
hundred years have succeeded closely one 
upon another, are assuredly the most beautiful 
jewels in the crown of France. Their virtues 
were many and great, — eloquence, love of 

37 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

la patrie, indomitable courage in time of 
trial, mastery of difficult situation, prudence, 
energy, patience, and charity." All these 
grand virtues were practised incessantly, with 
some regrettable eclipses, attributable not 
only to misfortune, but occasionally to fault. 
A churchman even is but human. 

With the accession of the third dynasty of 
kings, — the Capetians, in 987, — the history 
of the French really began, and that of the 
Franks, with their Germanic tendencies and 
elements, became absorbed by those of the 
Romanic language and character, with the 
attendant habits and customs. 

Only the Aquitanians, south of the Loire, 
and the Burgundians on the Rhone, still pre- 
served their distinct nationalities. 

The feudal ties which bound Aquitaine to 
France were indeed so slight that, when Hugh 
Capet, in 990, asked of Count Adelbert of 
Perigueux, before the walls of the besieged 
city of Tours: '^ Who made thee count? " he 
was met with the prompt and significant re- 
joinder, " Who made thee king? " 

At the close of the tenth century, France was 
ruled by close upon sixty princes, virtually 
independent, and yet a still greater number of 
prelates, — as powerful as any feudal lord, — 

38 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

who considered Hugh Capet of Paris only as 
one who was first among his peers. Yet he 
was able to extend his territory to such a 
degree that his hereditary dynasty ultimately 
assured the unification of the French nation. 
Less than a century later Duke William of 
Normandy conquered England (1066) ; when 
began that protracted struggle between 
France and England which lasted for three 
hundred years. 

Immediately after the return of the pious 
Louis VIL from his disastrous crusade, his 
queen, Eleanor, the heiress of Poitou and 
Guienne, married the young count Henry 
Plantagenet of Maine and Anjou; who, when 
he came to the English throne in 1153, " in- 
herited and acquired by marriage " — as his- 
torians subtly put it — " the better half of all 
France." 

Until 1322 the Church in France was di- 
vided into the following dioceses: 

Provincia Remensis (Reims) 

Provincia Rotomagensis (All Normandy) 

Provincia Turonensis (Touralne, Maine, Anjou, and 

Brittany) 
Provincia Burdegalensis (Poitou, Saintonge, Angumois 

Perigord, and Bordelais) 
Provincia Auxitana (In Gascoigne) 

39 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Provincia Bituricensis (Berri, Bourbonnais, Limosin, and 

Auvergne) 
Provincia Senonensis (Sens) 

Provincia Lugdunensis (Bourgogne and Lyonnais) 
Provincia Viennensis (Vienne on the Rhone) 
Provincia Narbonensis (Septimania) 
Provincia Arelatensis (Aries) 
Provincia Aquensis (Aix-en-Provence) 
Provincia Ebredunensis (The Alpine Valleys) 

The stormy days of the reign of Charles V. 
(late fourteenth century) throughout France 
were no less stringent in Languedoc than else- 
where. 

Here the people rose against the asserted 
domination of the Duke of Anjou, who, 
'' proud and greedy/' was for both qualities 
abhorred by the Languedocians. 

He sought to restrain civic liberty with a 
permanent military force, and at Nimes lev- 
ied heavy taxes, which were promptly re- 
sented by rebellion. At Montpellier the 
people no less actively protested, and slew 
the chancellor and seneschal. 

By the end of the thirteenth century, social, 
political, and ecclesiastical changes had 
wrought a wonderful magic with the map 
of France. John Lackland {sans terre) had 
been compelled by Philippe-Auguste to re- 

40 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

linquish his feudal possessions in France, with 
the exception of Guienne. At this time also 
the internal crusades against the Waldenses 
and Albigenses in southern France had pow- 
erfully extended the royal flag. Again, his- 
tory tells us that it was from the impulse and 
after influences of the crusading armies to the 
East that France was welded, under Philippe- 
le-Bel, into a united whole. The shifting for- 
tunes of France under English rule were, 
however, such as to put little stop to the 
progress of church-building in the provinces; 
though it is to be feared that matters in that 
line, as most others of the time, went rather by 
favour than by right of sword. 

Territorial changes brought about, in due 
course, modified plans of the ecclesiastical 
control and government, which in the first 
years of the fourteenth century caused certain 
administrative regulations to be put into 
effect by Pope John XXII. (who lies buried 
beneath a gorgeous Gothic monument at 
Avignon) regarding the Church in the south- 
ern provinces. 

So well planned were these details that the 
Church remained practically under the same 
administrative laws until the Revolution. 

Albi was separated from Bourges (1317), 

41 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

and raised to the rank of a metropolitan 
see; to which were added as suffragans 
Cahors, Rodez, and Mende, with the newly 
founded bishoprics of Castres and Vabres 
added. Toulouse was formed into an arch- 
bishopric in 1327; while St. Pons and Alet, 
as newly founded bishoprics, were given to 
the ancient see of Narbonne in indemnifica- 
tion for its having been robbed of Toulouse. 
The ancient diocese of Poitiers was divided 
into three, and that of Agen into two by the 
erection of suffragans at Maillezais, Lugon, 
Sarlat, and Condom. By a later papal bull, 
issued shortly after their establishment, these 
bishoprics appear to have been abolished, as 
no record shows that they entered into the 
general scheme of the revolutionary suppres- 
sion. 

On August 4, 1790, all chapters of cathe- 
dral churches, other than those of the metro- 
poles (the mother sees), their bishops, and 
in turn their respective cures, were sup- 
pressed. This ruling applied as well to all 
collegiate churches, secular bodies, and abbeys 
and priories generally. 

Many were, of course, reestablished at a 
subsequent time, or, at least, were permitted 
to resume their beneficent work. But it was 

42 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

this general suppression, in the latter years of 
the eighteenth century, which led up to the 
general reapportioning of dioceses in that 
composition of Church and State thereafter 
known as the Concordat. 

Many causes deflected the growth of the 
Church from its natural progressive pathway. 
The Protestant fury went nearly to fanat- 




The Concordat {From JVapoleon* s Tomb) 

icism, as did the equally fervent attempts to 
suppress it. The '^ Temples of Reason " of 
the Terrorists were of short endurance, but 
they indicated an unrest that has only in a 
measure moderated, if one is to take later 
political events as an indication of anything 
more than a mere uncontrolled emotion. 
Whether a great future awaits Protestant- 

43 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ism in France, or not, the power of the Roman 
Church is undoubtedly waning, in attracting 
congregations, at least. 

Should a Wesley or a Whitfield arise, he 
might gain followers, as strong men do, and 
they would draw unto them others, until con- 
gregations might abound. But the faith could 
hardly become the avowed religion of or for 
the French people. It has, however, a great 
champion in the powerful newspaper, he 
Temps, which has done, and will do, much 
to popularize the movement. 

The Protestantism of Lot and Lot et Ga- 
ronne is considerable, and it is of very long 
standing. It is recorded, too, that as late as 
October, 1901, the Commune of Murat went 
over en masse to Protestantism because the 
Catholic bishop at Cahors desired his com- 
municants to rise from their beds at what they 
considered an inconveniently early hour, in 
order to hear mass. 

This movement in Languedoc was not 
wholly due to the tyranny of the Duke of 
Anjou; it was caused in part by the confisca- 
tion or assumption of the papal authority by 
France. This caused not only an internal un- 
rest in Italy, but a turbulence which spread 
throughout all the western Mediterranean, 

44 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

and even unto the Rhine and Flanders. The 
danger which threatened the establishment of 
the Church, by making the papacy a depend- 
ence of France, aroused the Italian prelates 
and people alike, and gave rise to the simul- 
taneous existence of both a French and an 
Italian Pope. 

Charles V. supported the French pontiff, 
as was but natural, thus fermenting a great 
schism; with its attendant controversies and 
horrors. 

French and Italian politics became for a 
time inexplicably mingled, and the kingdom 
of Naples came to be transferred to the house 
of Anjou. 

The Revolution, following close upon the 
Jansenist movement at Port Royal, and the 
bull of Pope Unigenitus, resulted in such riot 
and disregard for all established institutions, 
monarchial, political and religious, that the 
latter — quite as much as the others — suf- 
fered undue severity. 

The Church itself was at this time divided, 
and rascally intrigue, as well as betrayal, was 
the order of the day on all sides. Bishops 
were politicians, and priests were but the 
tools of their masters; this to no small degree, 
if we are to accept the written records. 

45 



\r 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Talleyrand-Perigord, Bishop of Autun, was 
a member of the National Assembly, and 
often presided over the sittings of that none 
too deliberate body. 

In the innovations of the Revolution, the 
Church and the clergy took, for what was be- 
lieved to be the national good, their full and 
abiding share in the surrender of past priv- 
ileges. 

At Paris, at the instance of Mirabeau, they 
even acknowledged, in some measure, the 
principle of religious liberty, in its widest ap- 
plication. 

The appalling massacres of September 2, 
1792, fell heavily upon the clergy throughout 
France; of whom one hundred and forty were 
murdered at the Cannes alone. 

The Archbishop of Aries on that eventful 
day gave utterance to the following devoted 
plea: 

'' Give thanks to God, gentlemen, that He 
calls us to seal with our blood the faith 'we 
profess. Let us ask of Him the grace of final 
perseverance, which by our own merit we 
could not obtain/^ 

The Restoration found the Church in a 
miserable and impoverished condition. There 



46 



The Cathedrals of Southern Fraiice 

was already a long list of dioceses without 
bishops; of cardinals, prelates, and priests 
without charges, many of them in prison. 

Congregations innumerable had been sup- 
pressed and many sees had been abolished. 

The new dioceses, under the Concordat of 
1801, one for each department only, were of 
vast size as compared with those which had 
existed more numerously before the Revolu- 
tion. 

In 1822 thirty new sees were added to the 
prelature. To-day there are sixty-seven bish- 
oprics and seventeen archbishoprics, not in- 
cluding the colonial suffragans, but including 
the diocese of Corsica, whose seat is at Ajaccio. 

Church and State are thus seen to have 
been, from the earliest times, indissolubly 
linked throughout French dominion. 

The king — while there was a king — was 
the eldest son of the Church, and, it is said, 
the Church in France remains to-day that 
part of the Roman communion which pos- 
sesses the greatest importance for the govern- 
ing body of that faith. This, in spite of the 
tendency toward what might be called, for 
the want of a more expressive word, irrelig- 
ion. This is a condition, or a state, which 



47 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

is unquestionably making headway in the 
France of to-day— as well, presumably, as 
in other countries — of its own sheer weight 
of numbers. 

One by one, since the establishment of the 
Church in Gaul, all who placed any limits 
to their ecclesiastical allegiance have been 
turned out, and so turned into enemies, — the 
Protestants, the Jansenists, followers of the 
Bishop of Ypres, and the Constitutionalists. 
Reconciliation on either side is, and ever has 
been, apparently, an impossibility. 

Freedom of thought and action is undoubt- 
edly increasing its license, and the clergy in 
politics, while a thing to be desired by many, 
is, after all, a thing to be feared by the greater 
number, — for whom a popular government 
is made. Hence the curtailment of the power 
of the monks — the real secular propagandists 
— was perhaps a wise thing. We are not to- 
day living under the conditions which will 
permit of a new Richelieu to come upon the 
scene, and the recent act (1902) which sup- 
pressed so many monastic establishments, con- 
vents, and religious houses of all ranks, in- 
cluding the Alpine retreat of " La Grande 
Chartreuse," may be taken rather as a natural 
process of curtailment than a mere vindictive 

48 



The Catiiednils of Southern France 

desire on the part of the State to concern itself 
with " things that do not matter." On the 
other hand, it is hard to see just what imme- 
diate gain is to result to the nation. 



49 



Ill 



THE CHURCH ARCHITECTURE OF SOUTHERN 

FRANCE 

The best history of the Middle Ages is 
that suggested by their architectural remains. 
That is, if we want tangible or ocular demon- 
stration, which many of us do. 

Many of these remains are but indications 
of a grandeur that is past and a valour and a 
heroism that are gone; but with the Church 
alone are suggested the piety and devotion 
which still live, at least to a far greater 
degree than many other sentiments and emo- 
tions; which in their struggle to keep pace 
with progress have suffered, or become effete 
by the way. 

To the Church, then, or rather religion — 
if the word be preferred — we are chiefly in- 
debted for the preservation of these ancient 
records in stone. 

Ecclesiastical architecture led the way — 

50 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

there is no disputing that, whatever opinions 
may otherwise be held by astute archaeologists, 
historians, and the antiquarians, whose food 
is anything and everything so long as it reeks 
of antiquity. 

The planning and building of a great 
church was no menial work. Chief digni- 
taries themselves frequently engaged in it: 
the Abbot Suger, the foremost architect of 
his time — prime minister and regent of the 
kingdom as he was — at St. Denis; Arch- 
bishop Werner at Strasbourg; and William 
of Wykeham in England, to apportion such 
honours impartially. 

Gothic style appears to have turned its back 
on Italy, where, in Lombardy at all events, 
were made exceedingly early attempts in this 
style. This, perhaps, because of satisfying 
and enduring classical works which allowed 
no rivalry; a state of affairs to some extent 
equally true of the south of France. The 
route of expansion, therefore, was northward, 
along the Rhine, into the Isle of France, to 
Belgium, and finally into England. 

No more true or imaginative description of 
Gothic forms has been put into literature than 
those lines of Sir Walter Scott, which de- 
fine its characteristics thus: 

51 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

"... Whose pillars with clustered shafts so trim, 
With base and capital flourished 'round, 
Seemed bundles of lances which garlands had bound." 

In modern times, even in France, church- 
building neither aspired to, nor achieved, any 
great distinction. 

Since the Concordat what have we had? 
A few restorations, which in so far as they 
were carried out in the spirit of the original 
were excellent; a few added members, as the 
west front and spires of St. Ouen at Rouen; 
the towers and western portal at Clermont- 
Ferrand; and a few other works of like mag- 
nitude and worth. For the rest, where any- 
thing of bulk was undertaken, it was almost 
invariably a copy of a Renaissance model, 
and often a bad one at that; or a descent to 
some hybrid thing worse even than in their 
own line were the frank mediocrities of the 
era of the '^ Citizen-King," or the plush and 
horsehair horrors of the Second Empire. 

Most characteristic, and truly the most 
important of all, are the remains of the Gallo- 
Roman period. These are the most notable 
and forceful reminders of the relative prom- 
inence obtained by mediaeval pontiffs, prel- 
ates, and peoples. 

52 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

These relations are further barne out by 
the frequent juxtaposition of ecclesiastical 
and civic institutions of the cities themselves, 
— fortifications, palaces, chateaux, cathe- 
drals, and churches, the former indicating no 
more a predominance of power than the 
latter. 

A consideration of one, without something 
more than mere mention of the other, is not 
possible, and incidentally — even for the 
church-lover — nothing can be more inter- 
esting than the great works of fortification — 
strong, frowning, and massive — as are yet 
to be seen at Beziers, Carcassonne, or Avignon. 
It was this latter city which sheltered within 
its outer walls that monumental reminder of 
the papal power which existed in this French 
capital of the "Church of Rome" — as it 
must still be called — in the fourteenth cen- 
tury. 

To the stranger within the gates the uncon- 
scious resemblance between a castellated and 
battlemented feudal stronghold and the many 
churches, — and even certain cathedrals, as at 
Albi, Beziers, or Agde, — which were not 
unlike in their outline, will present some con- 
fusion of ideas. 

Between a crenelated battlement or the 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

machicolations of a city wall, as at Avignon; 
or of a hotel de ville, as at Narbonne; or the 
same detail surmounting an episcopal resi- 
dence, as at Albi, which is a veritable donjon; 
or the Palais des Papes, is not a difiference 
even of degree. It is the same thing in each 
case. In one instance, however, it may have 
been purely for defence, and in the other used 
as a decorative accessory; in the latter case 
it was no less useful when occasion required. 
This feature throughout the south of France 
is far more common than in the north, and is 
bound to be strongly remarked. 

Two great groups or divisions of architec- 
tural style are discernible throughout the 
south, even by the most casual of observers. 

One is the Provengal variety, which clings 
somewhat closely to the lower valley of the 
Rhone; and the other, the Aquitanian (with 
possibly the more restricted Auvergnian). 

These types possess in common the one dis- 
tinctive trait, in some form or other, of the 
round-arched vaulting of Roman tradition. 
It is hardly more than a reminiscence, how- 
ever, and while not in any way resembling the 
northern Gothic, at least in the Aquitanian 
species, hovers on the borderland between the 
sunny south and the more frigid north. 

54 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The Provencal type more nearly approxi- 
mates the older Roman, and, significantly, it 
has — with less interpolation of modern ideas 
— endured the longest. 

The Aquitanian style of the cathedrals at 
Perigueux and Angouleme, to specialize but 
two, is supposed to — and it does truly — 
bridge the gulf between the round-arched 
style which is not Roman and the more bril- 
liant and graceful type of Gothic. 

With this manner of construction goes, of 
course, a somewhat different interior arrange- 
ment than that seen in the north. 

A profound acquaintance with the subject 
will show that it bears a certain resemblance 
to the disposition of parts in an Eastern 
mosque, and to the earlier form of Christian 
church — the basilica. 

In this regard Fergusson makes the state- 
ment without reservation that the Eglise de 
Souillac more nearly resembles the Cairene 
type of Mohammedan mosque than it does a 
Christian thurch — of any era. 

A distinct feature of this type is the massive 
pointed arch, upon which so many have built 
their definition of Gothic. In truth, though, 
it differs somewhat from the northern Gothic 
arch, but is nevertheless very ancient. It is 

55 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

used in early Christian churches, — at Acre 
and Jaffa, — and was adopted, too, by the 
architects of the Eastern Empire long before 
its introduction into Gaul. 

The history of its transportation might be 
made interesting, and surely instructive, were 
one able to follow its orbit with any definite 
assurance that one was not wandering from 
the path. This does not seem possible ; most 
experts, real or otherwise, who have tried it 
seem to flounder and finally fall in the effort 
to trace its history in consecutive and logical, 
or even plausible, fashion. 

In illustration this is well shown by that 
wonderful and unique church of St. Front 
at Perigueux, where, in a design simple to 
severity, it shows its great unsimilarity to any- 
thing in other parts of France; if we except 
La Trinite at Anjou, with respect to its roof- 
ing and piers of nave. 

It has been compared in general plan and 
outline to St. Marc's at Venice, ^' but a St. 
Marc's stripped of its marbles and mosaics." 

In the Italian building its founders gath- 
ered their inspiration for many of its struc- 
tural details from the old Byzantine East. 
At this time the Venetians were pushing their 
commercial enterprises to all parts. North- 

56 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

western France, and ultimately the British 
Isles, was the end sought. We know, too, 
that a colony of Venetians had established 
itself as far northward as Limoges, and an- 
other at Perigueux, when, in 984, this edifice, 
which might justly be called Venetian in its 
plan, was begun. 

No such decoration or ornamentation was 
presumed as in its Adriatic prototype, but it 
had much beautiful carving in the capitals 
of its pillars and yet other embellishments, 
such as pavements, monuments, and precious 
altars, which once, it is said, existed more 
numerously than now. 

Here, then, was the foundation of a new 
western style, dififering in every respect from 
the Provengal or the Angevinian. 

Examples of the northern pointed or Gothic 
are, in a large way, found as far south as 
Bayonne in its cathedral; in the spires of the 
cathedral at Bordeaux; and less grandly, 
though elegantly, disposed in St. Nazaire in 
the old Che de Carcassonne; and farther 
north at Clermont-Ferrand, where its north- 
ern-pointed cathedral is in strong cpntrast to 
the neighbouring Notre Dame du Port, a re- 
markable type distinctly local in its plan and 
details. 

57 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

From this point onward, it becomes not so 
much a question of defining and placing types, 
as of a chronological arrangement of fact with 
regard to the activities of the art of church- 
building. 

It is doubtless true that many of the works 
of the ninth and tenth centuries were but 
feeble imitations of the buildings of Charle- 
magne, but it is also true that the period was 
that which was bringing about the develop- 
ment of a more or less distinct style, and if 
the Romanesque churches of France were not 
wholly Roman in spirit they wxre at least 
not a debasement therefrom. 

Sir Walter Scott has also described the 
Romanesque manner of church-building most 
poetically, as witness the following quatrain : 

" Built ere the art was known 
By pointed aisle and shafted stalk 
The arcades of an alleyed walk 
To emulate in stone." 

However, little remains in church architec- 
ture of the pre-tenth century to compare with 
the grand theatres, arenas, monuments, arches, 
towers, and bridges which are still left to us. 
Hence comparison were futile. Furthermore, 

58 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

there is this patent fact to be reckoned with, 
that the petty followers of the magnificent 
Charlemagne were not endowed with as lux- 
urious a taste, as large a share of riches, or 
so great a power; and naturally they fell be- 
fore the idea they would have emulated. 

As a whole France was at this period amid 
great consternation and bloodshed, and traces 
of advancing civilization were fast falling 
before wars and cruelties unspeakable. There 
came a period when the intellect, instead of 
pursuing its rise, was, in reality, degenerating 
into the darkness of superstition. 

The church architecture of this period — 
so hostile to the arts and general enlightenment 
— was undergoing a process even more fatal 
to its development than the terrors of war or 
devastation. 

It is a commonplace perhaps to repeat that 
it was the superstition aroused by the Apoca- 
lypse that the end of all things would come 
with the commencement of the eleventh cen- 
tury. It was this, however, that produced the 
stagnation in church-building which even the 
ardour of a few believing churchmen could 
not allay. The only great religious founda- 
tion of the time was the Abbey of Cluny in 
the early years of the tenth century. 

59 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

When the eleventh century actually ar- 
rived, Christians again bestirred themselves, 
and the various cities and provinces vied with 
each other in their enthusiastic devotion to 
church-building, as if to make up for lost 
time. 

From this time onward the art of church- 
building gave rise to that higher skill and 
handicraft, the practice of architecture as an 
art, of which ecclesiastical art, as was but 
natural, rose to the greatest height. 

The next century was productive of but 
little change in style, and, though in the north 
the transition and the most primitive of 
Gothic were slowly creeping in, the well- 
defined transition did not come until well 
forward in the twelfth century, when, so soon 
after, the new style bloomed forth in all its 
perfected glory. 

The cathedrals of southern France are 
manifestly not as lively and vigorous as those 
at Reims, Amiens, or Rouen; none have the 
splendour and vast extent of old glass as at 
Chartres, and none of the smaller examples 
equal the symmetry and delicacy of those at 
Noyon or Senlis. 

Some there be, however, which for mag- 
nificence and impressiveness take rank with 

60 



Tlie Cathedrals of Southern Frajice 

the most notable of any land. This is true of 
those of Albi, Le Puy, Perigueux, and An- 
gouleme. Avignon, too, in the ensemble of its 
cathedral and the papal palace, forms an 
architectural grouping that is hardly rivalled 
by St. Peter's and the Vatican itself. 

In many of the cities of the south of France 
the memory of the past, with respect to their 
cathedrals, is overshadowed by that of their 
secular and civic monuments, the Roman 
arenas, theatres, and temples. At Nimes, 
Aries, Orange, and Vienne these far exceed 
in importance and beauty the religious estab- 
lishments. 

The monasteries, abbeys, and priories of 
the south of France are perhaps not more 
numerous, nor yet more grand, than else- 
where, but they bring one to-day into more 
intimate association with their past. 

The *' Gallia - Monasticum " enumerates 
many score of these establishments as hav- 
ing been situated in these parts. Many have 
passed away, but many still exist. 

Among the first of their kind were those 
founded by St. Hilaire at Poitiers and St. 
Martin at Tours. The great Burgundian 
pride was the Abbey of Cluny; much the 
largest and perhaps as grand as any erected 

6i 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

in any land. Its church covered over seventy 
thousand square feet of area, nearly equalling 
in size the cathedrals at Amiens and at 
Bourges, and larger than either those at 
Chartres, Paris, or Reims. This great church 
was begun in 1089, was dedicated in 1131, and 
endured for more than seven centuries. To- 
day but a few small fragments remain, but 
note should be made of the influences which 
spread from this great monastic establishment 
throughout all Europe; and were second only 
to those of Rome itself. 

The lovely cloistered remains of Provence, 
Auvergne, and Aquitaine, the comparatively 
modern Charterhouse — called reminiscently 
the Escurial of Dauphine — near Grenoble, 
the communistic church of St. Bertrand de 
Comminges, La Chaise Dieu, Clairvaux, and 
innumerable other abbeys and monasteries 
will recall to mind more forcibly than aught 
else what their power must once have been. 

Between the seventh and tenth centuries 
these institutions flourished and developed in 
all of the provinces which go to make up 
modern France. But the eleventh and twelfth 
centuries were the golden days of these insti- 
tutions. They rendered unto the land and 
the people immense service, and their monks 

62 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

studied not only the arts and sciences, but 
worked with profound intelligence at all man- 
ner of utile labour. Their architecture ex- 
erted a considerable influence on this grow- 
ing art of the nation, and many of their grand 
churches were but the forerunners of cathe- 
drals yet to be. After the twelfth century, 
when the arts in France had reached the great- 
est heights yet attained, these religious estab- 
lishments were — to give them historical jus- 
tice — the greatest strength in the land. 

In most cases where the great cathedrals 
were not the works of bishops, who may at 
one time have been members of monastic com- 
munities themselves, they were the results of 
the ef^forts of laymen who were direct disci- 
ples of the architect monks. 

The most prolific monastic architect was 
undoubtedly St. Benigne of Dijon, the Italian 
monk whose work was spread not only 
throughout Brittany and Normandy, but even 
across the Channel to England. 

One is reminded in France that the nation's 
first art expression was made through church- 
building and decoration. This proves Rus- 
kin's somewhat involved dicta, that, " archi- 
tecture is the art which disposes and adorns 
the edifices raised by man ... a building 

63 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

raised to the honour of God has surely a use 
to which its architectural adornment fits it." 

From whatever remote period the visible 
history of France has sprung, it is surely from 
its architectural remains — of which religious 
edifices have endured the most abundantly — 
that its chronicles since Gallo-Roman times 
are built up. 

In the south of France, from the Gallic and 
Roman wars and invasions, we have a basis 
of tangibility, inasmuch as the remains are 
more numerous and definite than the mere 
pillars of stone and slabs of rock to be found 
in Bretagne, which apocryphally are sup- 
posed to indicate an earlier civilization. The 
menhirs and dolmens may mean much or lit- 
tle; the subject is too vague to follow here, 
but they are not found east of the Rhone, so 
the religion of fanaticism, of whatever species 
of fervour they may have resulted from, has 
left very little impress on France as a nation. 

After the rudest early monuments were 
erected in the south, became ruined, and fell, 
there followed gateways, arches, aqueducts, 
arenas, theatres, temples, and, finally, 
churches; and from these, however minute 
the stones, the later civilizing and Christian- 
izing history of this fair land is built up. 

64 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

It is not possible to ignore these secular and 
worldly contemporaries of the great churches. 
It would be fatal to simulate blindness, and 
they could not otherwise be overlooked. 

After the church-building era was begun, 
the development of the various styles was 
rapid: Gothic came, bloomed, flourished, 
and withered away. Then came the Renais- 
sance, not all of it bad, but in the main entirely 
unsuitable as a type of Christian architecture. 

Charles VIII. is commonly supposed to 
have been the introducer of the Italian Re- 
naissance into France, but it was to Frangois I. 
— that great artistic monarch and glorifier 
of the style in its domestic forms at least — 
that its popularization was due, who shall 
not say far beyond its deserts? Only in the 
magnificent chateaux, variously classed as 
Feudal, Renaissance, and Bourbon, did it 
partake of details and plans which proved 
glorious in their application. All had dis- 
tinctly inconsistent details grafted upon them; 
how could it have been otherwise with the 
various fortunes of their houses? 

There is little or nothing of Gothic in the 
chateau architecture of France to distinguish 
it from the more pronounced type which can 
hardly be expressed otherwise than as ^' the 

65 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

architecture of the French chateaux." No 
single word will express it, and no one type 
will cover them all, so far as defining their 
architectural style. The castle at Tarascon 
has a machicolated battlement; Coucy and 
Pierrefonds are towered and turreted as only 
a French chateau can be; the ruined and 
black-belted chateau of Angers is aught but 
a fortress; and Blois is an indescribable mix- 
ture of style which varies from the magnifi- 
cent to the sordid. This last has ever been 
surrounded by a sentiment which is perhaps 
readily enough explained, but its architecture 
is of that decidedly mixed type which classes 
it as a mere hybrid thing, and in spite of the 
splendour of the additions by the houses of 
the Salamander and the Hedgehog, it is a 
species which is as indescribable (though 
more effective) in domestic architecture as 
is the Tudor of England. 

With the churches the sentiments aroused 
are somewhat different. The Romanesque, 
Provengal, Auvergnian, or Aquitanian, all 
bespeak the real expression of the life of the 
time, regardless of whether individual ex- 
amples fall below or rise above their con- 
temporaries elsewhere. 

The assertion is here confidently made, that 

66 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

a great cathedral church is, next to being a 
symbol of the faith, more great as a monument 
to its age and environment than as the product 
of its individual builders; crystallizing in 
stone the regard with which the mission of 
the Church was held in the community. 
Church-building was never a fanaticism, 
though it was often an enthusiasm. 

There is no question but that church his- 
tory in general, and church architecture in 
particular, are becoming less and less the sole 
pursuit of the professional. One does not 
need to adopt a transcendent doctrine by 
merely taking an interest, or an intelligent 
survey, in the social and political aspects of 
the Church as an institution, nor is he becom- 
ing biassed or prejudiced by a true apprecia- 
tion of the symbolism and artistic attributes 
which have ever surrounded the art of church- 
building of the Roman Catholic Church. All 
will admit that the aesthetic aspect of the 
church edifice has always been the superla- 
tive art expression of its era, race, and locality. 



67 



PART II 
South of the Loire 



INTRODUCTORY 

The region immediately to the southward 
of the Loire valley is generally accounted the 
most fertile, abundant, and prosperous section 
of France. Certainly the food, drink, and 
shelter of all classes appear to be arranged 
on a more liberal scale than elsewhere; and 
this, be it understood, is a very good indication 
of the prosperity of a country. 

Touraine, with its luxurious sentiment of 
chateaux, counts, and bishops, is manifestly 
of the north, as also is the border province 
of Maine and Anjou, which marks the prog- 
ress and development of church-building 
from the manifest Romanesque types of the 
south to the arched vaults of the northern 
variety. 

Immediately to the southward — if one 
journeys but a few leagues — in Poitou, Saint- 
onge, and Angoumois, or in the east, in Berri, 
Marche, and Limousin, one comes upon a 

71 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

very different sentiment indeed. There is an 
abundance for all, but without the opulence 
of Burgundy or the splendour of Touraine. 

Of the three regions dealt with in this sec- 
tion, Poitou is the most prosperous, Auvergne 
the most picturesque, — though the Cevennes 
are stern and sterile, — and Limousin the 
least appealing. 

Limousin and, in some measure, Berri and 
Marche are purely pastoral; and, though 
greatly diversified as to topography, lack, in 
abundance, architectural monuments of the 
first rank. 

Poitou, in the west, borders upon the ocean 
and is to a great extent wild, rugged, and 
romantic. The forest region of the Bocage 
has ever been a theme for poets and painters. 
In the extreme west of the province is the 
Vendee, now the department of the same 
name. The struggles of its inhabitants on 
behalf of the monarchical cause, in the early 
years of the Revolution, is a lurid page of 
blood-red history that recalls one of the most 
gallant struggles in the life of the mon- 
archy. 

The people here were hardy and vigorous, 
— a race of landlords who lived largely upon 
their own estates but still retained an attach- 

72 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ment for the feudatories round about, a feel- 
ing which was unknown elsewhere in France. 

Poitiers, on the river Clain, a tributary of 
the Vienne, is the chief city of Poitou. Its 
eight magnificent churches are greater, in the 
number and extent of their charms, than any 
similar octette elsewhere. 

The valley of the Charente waters a con- 
siderable region to the southward of Poitiers. 
''he bon Rot'' Henri IV. called the stream 
the most charming in all his kingdom. The 
chief cities on its banks are La Rochelle, the 
Huguenot stronghold ; Rochefort, famed in 
worldly fashion for its cheeses; and An- 
gouleme, famed for its ^' Duchesse/' who was 
also worldly, and more particularly for its 
great domed cathedral of St. Pierre. 

With Auvergne one comes upon a topo- 
graphical aspect quite different from anything 
seen elsewhere. 

Most things of this world are but compara- 
tive, and so with Auvergne. It is picturesque, 
certainly. Le Puy has indeed been called 
" by one who knows," " the most picturesque 
place in the world." Clermont-Ferrand is 
almost equally attractive as to situation; while 
Puy de Dome, Riom, and St. Nectaire form 
a trio of naturally picturesque topographical 

73 



' The Cathedrals of Southern France 

features which it would be hard to equal 
within so small a radius elsewhere. 

The country round about is volcanic, and 
the face of the landscape shows it plainly. 
Clermont-Ferrand, the capital, was a popu- 
lous city in Roman times, and was the centre 
from which the spirit of the Church survived 
and went forth anew after five consecutive 
centuries of devastation and bloodshed of 
Vandals, Visigoths, Franks, Saracens, Car- 
lovingians and Capetians. 

Puy de Dome, near Clermont-Ferrand, is 
a massive rocky mount which rises nearly five 
thousand feet above the sea-level, and presents 
one of those uncommon and curious sights 
which one can hardly realize until he comes 
immediately beneath their spell. 

Throughout this region are many broken 
volcanic craters and lava streams. At Mont 
Dore-le-Bains are a few remains of a Roman 
thermal establishment; an indication that 
these early settlers found — if they did not 
seek — these warm springs of a unique qual- 
ity, famous yet throughout the world. 

An alleged " Druid's altar," more probably 
merely a dolmen, is situated near St. Nec- 
taire, a small watering-place which is also 



74 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

possessed of an impressively simple, though 
massive, Romanesque church. 

At Issiore is the Eglise de St, Pol, a large 
and important church, built in the eleventh 
century, in the Romanesque manner. An- 
other most interesting great church is La 
Chaise Dieu near Le Puy, a remarkable con- 
struction of the fourteenth century. It was 
originally the monastery of the Casa Dei. It 
has been popularly supposed heretofore that 
its floor was on a level with the summit of Puy 
de Dome, hence its appropriate nomenclature; 
latterly the assertion has been refuted, as it 
may be by any one who takes the trouble to 
compare the respective elevations in figures. 
This imposing church ranks, however, unre- 
servedly among the greatest of the mediaeval 
monastic establishments of France. 

The powerful feudal system of the Middle 
Ages, which extended from the Atlantic and 
German Oceans nearly to the Neapolitan and 
Spanish borders — afterward carried still far- 
ther into Naples and Britain — finds its most 
important and striking monument of central 
France in the Chateau of Polignac, only a 
few miles from Le Puy. This to-day is but 
a ruin, but it rises boldly from a depressed 
valley, and suggests in every way — ruin 

75 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 



though it be — the mediaeval stronghold that 
it once was. 

Originally it was the seat of the distin- 
guished family whose name it bears. The 
Revolution practically destroyed it, but such 
as is left shows completely the great extent 
of its functions both as a fortress and a palace. 

These elements were made necessary by 
long ages of warfare and discord, — local in 
many cases, but none the less bloodthirsty for 
that, — and while such institutions naturally 
promulgated the growth of Feudalism which 
left these massive and generous memorials, it 
is hard to see, even to-day, how else the end 
might have been obtained. 

Auvergne, according to Fergusson, who in 
his fact has seldom been found wanting, '' has 
one of the most beautiful and numerous of the 
* round-Gothic ' styles in France . . . classed 
among the perfected styles of Europe." 

Immediately to the southward of Le Puy 
is that marvellous country known as the Ce- 
vennes. It has been commonly called sterile, 
bare, unproductive, and much that is less 
charitable as criticism. 

It is not very productive, to be sure, but a 
native of the land once delivered himself of 
this remark: ''he murier a ete pendant long- 

76 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

temps Varbre d'or du Cevenolf This is 
prima-facie evidence that the first statement 
was a libel. 

In the latter years of the eighteenth century 
the Protestants of the Cevennes were a large 
and powerful body of dissenters. 

A curious work in English, written by a 
native of Languedoc in 1703, states '' that they 
were at least ten to one Papist. And 'twas 
observed, in many Places, the Priest said mass 
only for his Clerk, Himself, and the Walls." 

These people were not only valiant but in- 
dustrious, and at that time held the most con- 
siderable trade in wool of all France. 

To quote again this eighteenth-century 
Languedocian, who aspired to be a writer of 
English, we learn: 

" God vouchsafed to Illuminate this People 
with the Truths of the Gospel, several Ages 
before the Reformation. . . . The Waldenses 
and Albigenses fled into the Mountains to es- 
cape the violence of the Crusades against 
them. . . . Cruel persecution did not so 
wholly extinguish the Sacred Light in the 
Cevennes, but that some parts of it were pre- 
served among its Ashes." 

As early as 1683 the Protestants in many 
parts of southern France drew up a Project 

11 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of non-compliance with the Edicts and Dec- 
larations against them. 

The inhabitants in general, however, of the 
wealthy cities of Montpellier, Nimes and 
Uzes were divided much as factions are to- 
day, and the Papist preference prevailing, the 
scheme was not put into execution. Because 
of this, attempted resistance was made only 
in some parts of the Cevennes and Dauphine. 
Here the dissenters met with comfort and 
assurance by the preachings of several min- 
isters, and finally sought to go out proselytiz- 
ing among their outside brethren in affliction. 
This brought martyrdom, oppression, and 
bloodshed; and finally culminated in a long 
series of massacres. Children in large num- 
bers were taken from their parents, and put 
under the Romish faith, as a precaution, pre- 
sumably, that future generations should be 
more tractable and faithful. 

It is told of the Bishop of Alais that upon 
visiting the cure at Vigan, he desired that 
forty children should be so put away, forth- 
with. The cure could find but sixteen who 
were not dutiful toward the Church, but the 
bishop would have none of it. Forty was his 
quota from that village, and forty must be 
found. Forty isoere found, the rest being 

78 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

made up from those who presumably stood 
in no great need of the care of the Church, 
beyond such as already came into their daily 
lives. 

It seems outrageous and unfair at this late 
day, leaving all question of Church and creed 
outside the pale, but most machination of arbi- 
trary law and ruling works the same way, and 
pity 'tis that the Church should not have been 
the first to recognize this tendency. How- 
ever, these predilections on the part of the 
people are scarcely more than a memory to- 
day, in spite of the fact that Protestantism 
still holds forth in many parts. Taine was 
undoubtedly right when he said that it was 
improbable that such a religion would ever 
satisfy the French temperament. 

Limousin partakes of many of the char- 
acteristics of Auvergne and Poitou. Its archi- 
tectural types favour the latter, and its topo- 
graphical features the former. The resem- 
blance is not so very great in either case, but 
it is to be remarked. Its chief city, Limoges, 
lies to the northward of the Montagues du 
Limousin, on the banks of the Vienne, which, 
through the Loire, enters the Atlantic at St. 
Nazaire. 

In a way, its topographical situation, as 

79 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

above noted, accounts far more for its tend- 
encies of life, the art expression of its 
churches, and its ancient enamels and pottery 
of to-day, than does its climatic situation. It 
is climatically of the southland, but its indus- 
try and its influences have been greatly north- 
ern. 

With the surrounding country this is not 
true, but with its one centre of population — 
Limoges — it is. 



80 



II 

l'abbaye de maillezais 

Maillezais is but a memory, so far as its 
people and power are concerned. It is not 
even a Vendean town, as many suppose, 
though it was the seat of a thirteenth-century 
bishopric, which in the time of Louis Qua- 
torze was transferred to La Rochelle. 

Its abbey church, the oldest portion of 
which dates from the tenth to the twelfth 
centuries, is now but a ruin. 

In the fourteenth century the establishment 
was greatly enlarged and extensive buildings 
added. 

To-day it is classed, by the Commission des 
Monuments Historiques, among those treas- 
ures for which it stands sponsor as to their 
antiquity, artistic worth, and future preserva- 
tion. Aside from this and the record of the 
fact that it became, in the fourteenth century, 
the seat of a bishop's throne, — with Geof- 
froy I. as its first occupant, — it must be dis- 
missed without further comment. 

8i 







III 



ST. LOUIS DE LA ROCHELLE 



The city of La Rochelle will have more 
interest for the lover of history than for the 
lover of churches. 

Its past has been lurid, and the momentous 
question of the future rights of the Protestants 
of France made this natural stronghold the 
battle-ground where the most stubborn re- 
sistance against Church and State was made. 

The siege of 1573 was unsuccessful. But 
a little more than half a century later the city, 
after a siege of fourteen months, gave way 
before the powerful force brought against it 

82 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

by Cardinal Richelieu in person, supported 
by Louis XIII. 

For this reason, if for no other, he who 
would know from personal acquaintance the 
ground upon which the mighty battles of the 
faith were fought will not pass the Huguenot 
city quickly by. 

The Huguenot stronghold of La Rochelle 
naturally might not be supposed to possess a 
very magnificent Roman cathedral. As a mat- 
ter of fact it does not, and it has only ranked 
as a cathedral city since 1665, when the bish- 
opric w^as transferred from Maillezais. The 
city was in the hands of the Huguenots from 
1557 until the siege of 1628 — 1629; and was, 
during all this time, the bulwark of the Prot- 
estant cause in France. 

The present cathedral of St. Louis dates 
only from 1735. 

Its pseudo-classic features classify it as one 
of those structures designated by the discern- 
ing Abbe Bourasse as being '^ cold-blooded 
and lacking in lustre." 

It surely is all of that, and the pity is that 
it offers no charm whatever of either shape 
or feature. 

It is of course more than likely that 
Huguenot influence was here so great as to 

83 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

have strangled any ambition on the part of the 
mediaeval builders to have erected previously 
anything more imposing. And when that 
time was past came also the demise of Gothic 
splendour. The transition from the pointed 
to the superimposed classical details, which 
was the distinctive Renaissance manner of 
church-building, was not as sudden as many 
suppose, though it came into being simul- 
taneously throughout the land. 

There is no trace, however, in the cathedral 
of St. Louis, of anything but a base descent 
to features only too well recognized as hav- 
ing little of churchly mien about them; and 
truly this structure is no better or worse as an 
art object than many others of its class. The 
significant aspect being that, though it re- 
sembles Gothic not at all, neither does it bear 
any close relationship to the Romanesque. 

The former parish church of St. Bar- 
thelemy, long since destroyed, has left behind, 
as a memory of its former greatness, a single 
lone tower, the work of a Cluniac monk, 
Mognon by name. It is worth hours of con- 
templation and study as compared with the 
minutes which could profitably be devoted to 
the cathedral of St. Louis. 



84 




IV 



CATHEDRALE DE LUgON 



When the see of Lugon was established 
in the fourteenth century it comprehended a 
territory over which Poitiers had previously 
had jurisdiction. A powerful abbey was here 
in the seventh century, but the first bishop, 
Pierre de la Veyrie, did not come to the dio- 
cese until 13 17. The real fame of the diocese, 
in modern minds, lies in the fact that Cardinal 
Richelieu was made bishop of Lugon in the 
seventeenth century (r6o6 to 1624). 

The cathedral at Lugon is a remarkable 
structure in appearance. A hybrid conglom- 

85 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

erate thing, picturesque enough to the un- 
trained eye, but ill-proportioned, weak, ef- 
feminate, and base. 

Its graceful Gothic spire, crocketed, and of 
true dwindling dimensions, is superimposed 
on a tower which looks as though it might 
have been modelled with a series of children's 
building-blocks. This in its turn crowns a 
classical portal and colonnade in most un- 
canny fashion. 

In the first stage of this tower, as it rises 
above the portal, is what, at a distance, ap- 
pears to be a diminutive rosace. In reality 
it is an enormous clock-face, to which one's 
attention is invariably directed by the native, 
a species of local admiration which is uni- 
versal throughout the known world wherever 
an ungainly clock exists. 

The workmanship of the building as a 
whole is of every century from the twelfth to 
the seventeenth, with a complete " restora- 
tion " in 1853. In the episcopal palace is a 
cloistered arcade, the remains of a fifteenth- 
century work. 

A rather pleasing situation sets off this pre- 
tentious but unworthy cathedral in a manner 
superior to that which it deserves. 



86 




ST. FRONT DE PERIGUEUX 



The grandest and most notable tenth-cen- 
tury church yet remaining in France is un- 
questionably that of St. Front at Perigueux. 

From the records of its history and a study 
of its distinctive constructive elements has 
been traced the development of the transition 
period which ultimately produced the Gothic 
splendours of the Isle of France. 

It is more than reminiscent of St. Marc's 
at Venice, and is the most notable exponent of 
that type of roofing which employed the 
cupola in groups, to sustain the thrust and 
counterthrust, which was afterward accom- 

87 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

plished by the ogival arch in conjunction with 
the flying buttress. 

Here are comparatively slight sustaining 
walls, and accordingly no great roofed-over 
chambers such as we get in the later Gothic, 
but the whole mass is, in spite of this, sug- 
gestive of a massiveness which many more 
heavily walled churches do not possess. Para- 
doxically, too, a view over its roof-top, with 
its ranges of egg-like domes, suggests a frailty 
which but for its scientifically disposed strains 
would doubtless have collapsed ere now. 

This ancient abbatial church succeeded an 
earlier basilique on the same site. Viollet-le- 
Duc says of it: " It is an importation from 
a foreign country; the most remarkable ex- 
ample of church-building in Gaul since the 
barbaric invasion." 

The plan of the cathedral follows not only 
the form of St. Marc's, but also approximates 
its dimensions. The remains of the ancient 
basilica are only to be remarked in the por- 
tion which precedes the foremost cupola. 

St. Front has the unusual attribute of an 
avant-porch, — a sort of primitive narthen, as 
was a feature of tenth-century buildings (see 
plan and descriptions of a tenth-century 
church in appendix), behind which is a sec- 

88 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ond porch, — a vestibule beneath the tower, 
" — and finally the first of the group of five 
central cupolas. 

The clocher or belfry of St. Front is ac- 
credited as being one of the most remarkable 
eleventh-century erections of its kind in any 
land. It is made up of square stages, each 
smaller than the other, and crowned finally by 
a conic cupola. 

Its early inception and erection here are 
supposed to account for the similarity of oth- 
ers — not so magnificent, but like to a marked 
degree — in the neighbouring provinces. 

Here is no trace of the piled-up tabouret 
style of later centuries, and it is far removed 
from the mosque-like minarets which were 
the undoubted prototypes of the mediaeval 
clochers. So, too, it is different, quite, from the 
Italian campanile or the beffroi which crept 
into civic architecture in the north; but whose 
sole example in the south of France is be- 
lieved to be that curious structure which still 
holds forth in the papal city of Avignon. 

Says Bourasse: ^' The cathedral of St. 
Front at Perigueux is unique." Its founda- 
tion dates with certitude from between loio 
and 1047, and is therefore contemporary with 
that of St. Marc's at Venice — which it so 

89 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

greatly resembles — which was rebuilt after 
a fire between 977 and 1071. 

The general effect of the interior is as im- 
pressive as it is unusual, with its lofty cupolas, 
its weighty and gross pillars, and its massive 




Detail of the Interior of St. Front de Pirigueux 

arches between the cupolas; all of which are 
purely constructive elements. 

There are few really ornamental details, 
and such as exist are of a severe and unpro- 
gressive type, being merely reminiscent of the 
antique. 

90 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

In its general plan, St. Front follows that 
of a Grecian cross, its twelve wall-faces 
crowned by continuous pediments. Eight 
massive pillars, whose functions are those of 
the later developed buttress, flank the extremi- 
ties of the cross, and are crowned by pyram- 
idal cupolas which, with the main roofing, 
combine to give that distinctive character to 
this unusual and " foreign " cathedral of mid- 
France. 

St. Front, from whom the cathedral takes 
its name, became the first bishop of Perigueux 
when the see was founded in the second cen- 
tury. 



9^ 



VI 

ST. PIERRE DE POITIERS 

In 13 17 the diocese of Poitiers was divided, 
and parts apportioned to the newly founded 
bishoprics of Maillezais and Lugon. The first 
bishop of Poitiers was St. Nectaire, in the 
third century. By virtue of the Concordat of 
1 801 the diocese now comprehends the De-, 
partments of Vienne and Deux-Sevres. 

The cathedral of St. Pierre de Poitiers has 
been baldly and tersely described as a " mere 
Lombard shell with a Gothic porch." This 
hardly does it justice, even as to preciseness. 
The easterly portion is Lombard, without 
question, and the nave is of the northern 
pointed variety; a not unusual admixture of 
feature, but one which can but suggest that 
still more, much more, is behind it. 

The pointed nave is of great beauty, and, 
in the westerly end, contains an elaborate ro- 
sace — an infrequent attribute in these parts. 

The aisles are of great breadth, and are 

92 




r- 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

quite as lofty in proportion. This produces 
an effect of great amplitude, nearly as much 
so as of the great hailed churches at Albi or 
the aisleless St. Andre at Bordeaux, and con- 
trasts forcibly in majesty with the usual Gothic 
conception of great height, as against extreme 
width. 

Of Poitiers Professor Freeman says: '^ It 
is no less a city of counts than Angers; and if 
Counts of Anjou grew into Kings of England, 
one Countess of Poitiers grew no less into a 
Queen of England; and when the young 
Henry took her to wife, he took all Poitou 
with her, and Aquitaine and Gascogne, too, 
so great was his desire for lands and power." 
Leaving that aspect apart — to the historians 
and apologists — it is the churches of Poitiers 
which have for the traveller the greatest and 
all-pervading interest. 

Poitiers is justly famed for its noble and 
numerous mediaeval church edifices. Five of 
them rank as a unique series of Romanesque 
types — the most precious in all France. In 
importance they are perhaps best ranked as 
follows: St. Hilaire, of the tenth and eleventh 
centuries; the Baptistere, or the Temple St. 
Jean, of the fourth to twelfth centuries ; Notre 
Dame de la Grande and St.Radegonde, of the 

9S 



The Cathedrals of Soulhern France 

eleventh and twelfth centuries; and La Ca- 
thedrale, dating from the end of the Roman- 
esque period. Together they present a unique 
series of magnificent churches, as is truly 
claimed. 

When one crosses the Loire, he crosses the 
boundary not only into southern Gaul but into 
southern Europe as well; where the very as- 
pects of life, as well as climatic and topograph- 
ical conditions and features, are far different 
from those of the northern French provinces. 

Looking backward from the Middle Ages 
' — from the fourteenth century to the fourth — - 
one finds the city less a city of counts than of 
bishops. 

Another aspect which places Poitiers at the 
very head of ecclesiastical foundations is that 
it sustained, and still sustains, a separate re- 
ligious edifice known as the Baptistere. It is 
here a structure of Christian-Roman times, 
and is a feature seldom seen north of the Alps, 
or even out of Italy. There is, however, an- 
other example at Le Puy and another at Aix- 
en-Provence. This Baptistere de St. Jean was 
founded during the reign of St. Hilaire as 
bishop of Poitiers, a prelate whose name still 
lives in the Eglise St. Hilaire-le-Grand. 

The cathedral of St. Pierre is commonly 

96 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

classed under the generic style of Roman- 
esque; more particularly it is of. the Lombard 
variety, if such a distinction can be made be- 
tween the two species with surety. At all 
events it marks the dividing-line — or period, 
when the process of evolution becomes most 
marked — between the almost pagan plan of 
many early Christian churches and the com- 
ing of Gothic. 

In spite of its prominence and its beauty 
with regard to its accessories, St. Pierre de 
Poitiers does not immediately take rank as 
the most beautiful, nor yet the most interesting, 
among the churches of the city: neither has 
it the commanding situation of certain other 
cathedrals of the neighbouring provinces, such 
as Notre Dame at Le Puy, St. Maurice at 
Angers, or St. Front at Perigueux. In short, 
as to situation, it just misses what otherwise 
might have been a commanding location. 

St. Radegonde overhangs the river Clain, 
but is yet far below the cathedral, which 
stands upon the eastern flank qf an eminence, 
and from many points is lost entirely to view. 
From certain distant vantage-ground, the com- 
position is, however, as complete and imposing 
an ensemble as might be desired, but decidedly 



97 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the nearer view is not so pleasing, and some- 
what mitigates the former estimate. 

There is a certain uncouthness in the out- 
lines of this church that does not bring it into 
competition with that class of the great 
churches of France known as les grandes ca- 
thedral es. 

The general outline of the roof — omitting 
of course the scanty transepts — is very remi- 
niscent of Bourges; and again of Albi. The 
ridge-pole is broken, however, by a slight dif- 
ferentiation of height between the choir and 
the nave, and the westerly towers scarcely rise 
above the roof itself. 

The easterly termination is decidedly un- 
usual, even unto peculiarity. It is not, after 
the English manner, of the squared east-end 
variety, nor yet does it possess an apse of con- 
ventional form, but rather is a combination of 
the two widely differing styles, with consid- 
erably more than a suggested apse when 
viewed from the interior, and merely a flat 
bare wall when seen from the outside. In 
addition three diminutive separate apses are 
attached thereto, and present in the completed 
arrangement a variation or species which is 
distinctly local. 

The present edifice dates from 1162, its con- 

98 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

struction being largely due to the Countess 
Eleanor, queen to the young Earl Henry. 

The high altar was dedicated in 1199, but 
the choir itself was not finished until a half- 
century later. 

There is no triforium or clerestory, and, 
but for the aisles, the cathedral would approx- 
imate the dimensions and interior outlines of 
that great chambered church at Albi; as it 
is, it comes well within the classification called 
by the Germans hallenkirche. 

Professor Freeman has said that a church 
that has aisles can hardly be called a typical 
Angevin church; but St. Pierre de Poitiers 
is distinctly Angevin in spite of the loftiness 
of its walls and pillars. 

The west front is the most elaborate con- 
structive element and is an addition of the 
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, with flank- 
ing towers of the same period which stand 
well forward and to one side, as at Rouen, 
and at Wells, in England. 

The western doorway is decorated with 
sculptures of the fifteenth century, in a manner 
which somewhat suggests the work of the 
northern builders; who, says Fergusson, 
" were aiding the bishops of the southern 

99 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

dioceses to emulate in some degree the am- 
bitious works of the Isle of France." 

The ground-plan of this cathedral is curi- 
ous, and shows, in its interior arrangements, 
a narrowing or drawing in of parts toward the 
east. This is caused mostly by the decreasing 
effect of height between the nave and choir, 
and the fact that the attenuated transepts are 
hardly more than suggestions — occupying 
but the width of one bay. 

The nave of eight bays and the aisles are 
of nearly equal height, which again tends to 
produce an effect of length. 

There is painted glass of the thirteenth cen- 
tury in small quantity, and a much larger 
amount of an eighteenth-century product, 
which shows — as always — the decadence of 
the art. Of this glass, that of the rosace at 
the westerly end is perhaps the best, judging 
from the minute portions which can be seen 
peeping out from behind the organ-case. 

The present high altar is a modern work, as 
also — comparatively — are the tombs of vari- 
ous churchmen which are scattered through- 
out the nave and choir. In the sacristy, access 
to which is gained by some mystic rite not 
always made clear to the visitor, are supposed 
to be a series of painted portraits of all the 

lOO 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

former bishops of Poitiers, from the four- 
teenth century onward. It must be an inter- 
esting collection if the outsider could but 
judge for himself; as things now are, it has 
to be taken on faith. 

A detail of distinct value, and a feature 
which shows a due regard for the abilities of 
the master workman who built the cathedral, 
though his name is unknown, is to be seen in 
the tympana of the canopies which overhang 
the stalls of the choir. Here is an acknowledg- 
ment — in a tangible if not a specific form — 
of the architectural genius who was responsi- 
ble for the construction of this church. It 
consists of a sculptured figure in stone, which 
bears in its arms a compass and a T square. 
This suggests the possible connection between 
the Masonic craft and church-building of the 
Middle Ages; a subject which has ever been 
a vexed question among antiquaries, and one 
which doubtless ever will be. 

The episcopal residence adjoins the cathe- 
dral on the right, and the charming Baptis- 
tere St. Jean is also close to the walls of, but 
quite separate from, the main building of the 
cathedral. 

The other architectural attractions of Poi- 



lOI 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

tiers are nearly as great as its array of 
churches. 

The Musee is exceedingly rich in archaeo- 
logical treasures. The present-day Palais de 
Justice was the former palace of the Counts 
of Poitou. It has a grand chamber in its Salle 
des Pas'perdus, which dates from the twelfth 
to fourteenth centuries as to its decorations. 
The ramparts of the city are exceedingly in- 
teresting and extensive. In the modern hotel 
de ville are a series of wall decorations by 
Puvis de Chavannes. The Hotel d'Aquitaine 
(sixteenth century), in the Grand Rue, was 
the former residence of the Priors of St. John 
of Jerusalem. 

The Chronique de Maillezais tells of a 
former bishop of Poitiers who, about the year 
1 1 14, sought to excommunicate that gay prince 
and poet, William, the ninth Count of Poi- 
tiers, the earliest of that race of poets known 
as the troubadours. Coming into the count's 
presence to repeat the formula of excommuni- 
cation, he was threatened with the sword of 
that gay prince. Thinking better, however, 
the count admonished him thus : " No, I will 
not. I do not love you well enough to send 
you to paradise." He took upon himself, 
though, to exercise his royal prerogative; and 

102 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

henceforth, for his rash edict, the bishop of 
Poitiers was banished for ever, and the see 
descended unto other hands. 

The generally recognized reputation of 
William being that of a ''grand trompeur 
des dames^' this action was but a duty which 
the honest prelate was bound to perform, dis- 
astrous though the consequences might be. 
Still he thought not of that, and was not will- 
ing to accept palliation for the count's venial 
sins in the shape of that nobleman's capacities 
as the first chanter of his time, — poetic meas- 
ures of doubtful morality. 



103 



VII 

ST. ETIENNE DE LIMOGES 

" Les Limosinats leave their cities poor, and they return 
poor, after long years of labour." 

— De la Bedolliere. 

Limoges was the capital around which cen- 
tred the life and activities of the pays du 
Limousin when that land marked the limits 
of the domain of the Kings of France. (Gui- 
enne then being under other domination.) 

The most ancient inhabitants of the province 
were known as Lemovices, but the transition 
and evolution of the vocable are easily fol- 
lowed to that borne by the present city of 
Limoges, perhaps best known of art lovers as 
the home of that school of fifteenth century 
artists who produced the beautiful works 
called Emaux de Limoges. 

The earliest specimens of what has come 
to be popularly known as Limoges enamel 
date from the twelfth century; and the last 

104 













f^ 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of the great masters in the splendid art died 
in 1765. 

The real history of this truly great art, 
which may be said to have taken its highest 
forms in ecclesiology, — of which examples 
are frequently met with in the sacristies of the 
cathedral churches of France and elsewhere 
— is vague to the point of obscurity. A study 
of the subject, deep and profound, is the only 
process by which one can acquire even a nod- 
ding acquaintance with all its various aspects. 

It reached its greatest heights in the reign 
of that artistic monarch, Frangois I. To-day 
the memory and suggestion of the art of the 
enamelists of Limoges are perpetuated by, 
and, through those cursory mentors, the 
guide-books and popular histories, often con- 
founded with, the production of porcelain. 
This industry not only flourishes here, but the 
famous porcelain earth of the country round 
about is supplied even to the one-time royal 
factory of Sevres. 

St. Martial was the first prelate at Limoges, 
in the third century. The diocese is to-day a 
sufifragan of Bourges, and its cathedral of St. 
Etienne, while not a very ancient structure, 
is most interesting as to its storied past and 
varied and lively composition. 

107 



The Cathedrals of Southern Fra^tce 

Beneath the western tower are the remains 
of a Romanesque portal which must have be- 
longed to an older church ; but to all intents 
and purposes St. Etienne is to-day a Gothic 
church after the true northern manner. 

It was begun in 1273 under the direct influ- 
ence of the impetus given to the Gothic devel- 
opment by the erection of Notre Dame d'Ami- 
ens, and in all its parts, — ^ choir, transept, and 
nave, — its development and growth have 
been most pleasing. 

From the point of view of situation this 
cathedral is more attractively placed than 
many another which is located in a city which 
perforce must be ranked as a purely commer- 
cial and manufacturing town. From the Pont 
Neuf, which crosses the Vienne, the view over 
the gardens of the bishop's palace and the 
Quai de I'Eveche is indeed grand and impos- 
ing. 

Chronologically the parts of this imposing 
church run nearly the gamut of the Gothic 
note — from the choir of the thirteenth^ the 
transepts of the fourteenth and fifteenth, to 
the nave of the early sixteenth centuries. This 
nave has only latterly been completed, and is 
preceded by the elegant octagonal tower be- 
fore mentioned. This clocher is a thirteenth- 

108 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

century work, and rises something over two 
hundred and four feet above the pavement. 

In the north transept is a grand rose win- 
dow after the true French mediaeval excel- 
lence and magnitude, showing once again the 
northern spirit under which the cathedral- 
builders of Limoges worked. 

In reality the fagade of this north transept 
might be called the true front of the cathedral. 
The design of its portal is elaborate and ele- 
gant. A series of carved figures in stone are 
set against the wall of the choir just beyond 
the transept. They depict the martyrdom of 
St. Etienne. 

The interior will first of all be remarked 
for its abundant and splendidly coloured glass. 
This glass is indeed of the quality w^hich in a 
later day has often been lacking. It dates 
from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, 
except a part, readily discernible, which is 
of the nineteenth. 

The remains of a precious choir-screen are 
yet very beautiful. It has been removed from 
its original position and its stones arranged in 
much disorder. Still it is a manifestly satis- 
fying example of the art of the stone-carver 
of the Renaissance period. It dates from 1543. 
Bishop Langeac (d. 1541), who caused it to 

109 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

be originally erected, is buried close by, be- 
neath a contemporary monument. Bishops 
Bernard Brun (d. 1349) and Raynaud de la 
Porte (d. 1325) have also Renaissance monu- 
ments which will be remarked for their excess 
of ornament and elaboration. 

In the crypt of the eleventh century, pre- 
sumably the remains of the Romanesque 
church whose portal is beneath the western 
tower, are some remarkable wall paintings 
thought to be of a contemporary era. If so, 
they must rank among the very earliest works 
of their class. 

The chief treasures of the cathedral are a 
series of enamels which are set into a reredos 
(the canon's altar in the sacristy). They are 
the work of the master, Noel Loudin, in the 
seventeenth century. 

In the Place de I'Hotel de Ville is a monu- 
mental fountain in bronze and porcelain, fur- 
ther enriched after the manner of the mediae- 
val enamel workers. 

The collection de ceramique in the Musee 
is unique in France, or fox that matter in all 
the world. 

The ateliers de Limoges were first estab- 
lished in the thirteenth century by the monks 
of the Abbey of Solignac. 

no 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

A remarkable example of the work of the 
emailleurs limousins is the twelfth-century 
reliquary of Thomas a Becket, one-time Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. 

At the rear of the cathedral the Vienne is 
crossed by the thirteenth-century bridge of 



ttf t^tttt 




Reliquary of Thomas ct Becket 

St. Etienne. Like the cathedrals, chateaux, 
and city walls, the old bridges of France, 
where they still remain, are masterworks of 
their kind. To connect them more closely 
v/ith the cause of religion, it is significant that 
they mostly bore the name of, and were dedi- 
cated to, some local saint. 

Ill 



VIII 

ST. ODILON DE ST. FLOUR 

Though an ancient Christianizing centre, 
St. Flour is not possessed of a cathedral which 
gives it any great rank as a " cathedral town." 

The bishopric was founded in 13 18, by 
Raimond de Vehens, and the present cathe- 
dral of St. Odilon is on the site of an ancient 
basilica. It was begun in 1375, dedicated in 
1496, and finished — so far as a great church 
ever comes to its completion — in 1556. 

Its exterior is strong and massive, but har- 
monious throughout. Its fagade has three 
portals, flanked by two square towers, which 
are capped with modern couronnes. 

The interior shows five small naves; that 
is, the nave proper, with two aisles on either 
side. 

Beside the western doorway are somewhat 
scanty traces of mediaeval mural paintings 
depicting Purgatory, while above is the con- 
ventionally disposed organ bufet. 

112 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

A fine painting of the late French school 
is in one of the side chapels, and represents 
an incident from the life of St. Vincent de 
Paul. In another chapel is a bas-relief in 
stone of " The Last Judgment," reproduced 
from that which is yet to be seen in the north 
portal of Notre Dame de Reims. In the 
chapel of St. Anthony of Padua is a painting 
of the " Holy Family," and in another — that 
of Ste. Anne — a remarkable work depicting 
the " Martyred St. Symphorien at Autun." 

In the lower ranges of the choir is some fine 
modern glass by Thevenot, while high above 
the second range is a venerated statue of he 
Christ Noir. 

From this catalogue it will be inferred that 
the great attractions of the cathedral at St. 
Flour are mainly the artistic accessories with 
which it has been embellished. 

There are no remarkably beautiful or strik- 
ing constructive elements, though the plan is 
hardy and not unbeautiful. It ranks among 
cathedrals well down in the second class, but 
it is a highly interesting church nevertheless. 

A chapel in the nave gives entrance to the 
eighteenth-century episcopal palace, which is 
in no way notable except for its beautifully 



"3 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

laid-out gardens and terraces. The sacristy 
was built in 1382 of the remains of the ancient 
Chateau de St. Flour, called De Brezons, 
which was itself originally built in the year 
1000. 



114 



ST. PIERRE DE SAINTES 

The chief architectural feature of this 
ancient town — the Mediolanum Santonum, 
chief town of the Santoni — is not its rather 
uninspiring cathedral (rebuilt in 1585), nor 
yet the church of St Eutrope (1081 — 96) 
with its underground crypt — the largest in 
France. 

As a historical monument of rank far more 
interest centres around the Arc de Triomphe 
of Germanicus, which originally formed a 
part of the bridge which spans the Charente 
at this point. It was erected in the reign of 
Nero by Caius Julius Rufus, a priest of Roma 
and Augustus, in memory of Germanicus, Ti- 
berius, his uncle, and his father, Drusus. 

The bridge itself, or what was left of it, 
was razed in the nineteenth century, which is 
of course to be regretted. A monument which 
could have endured a matter of eighteen hun- 
dred years might well have been left alone to 

"5 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

takes its further chances with Father Time. 
Since then the bridge has been rebuilt on its 
former site, a procedure which makes the 
hiatus and the false position of the arch the 
more apparent. The cloister of the cathedral, 
in spite of the anachronism, is in the early 
Gothic manner, and the campanile is of the 
fifteenth century. 

Saintes became a bishopric, in the province 
of Bordeaux, in the third century. St. Eu- 
trope — whose name is perpetuated in a fine 
Romanesque church of the city — was the 
first bishop. The year 1793 saw the suppres- 
sion of the diocesan seat here, in favour of An- 
gouleme. 

. In the main, the edifice is of a late date, 
in that it was entirely rebuilt in the latter 
years of the sixteenth century, after having 
suffered practical devastation in the religious 
wars of that time. 

The first mention of a cathedral church here 
is of a structure which took form in 11 17 — 
the progenitor of the present edifice. Such 
considerable repairs as were necessary were 
undertaken in the fifteenth century, but the 
church seen to-day is almost entirely of the 
century following. 

The most remarkable feature of note, in 

116 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

connection with this ci-devant cathedral, is 
unquestionably the luxurious flamboyant tower 
of the fifteenth century. 

This really fine tower is detached from the 
main structure and occupies the site of the 
church erected by Charlemagne in fulfilment 
of his vow to Pepin, his father, after defeating 
Gaiffre, Due d'Aquitaine. 

In the interior two of the bays of the tran- 
septs — which will be readily noted — date 
from the twelfth century, while the nave is 
of the fifteenth, and the vaulting of nave and 
choir — hardy and strong in every detail — 
is, in part, as late as the mid-eighteenth cen- 
tury. 

The Eglise de St. Eutrope, before men- 
tioned, is chiefly of the twelfth century, though 
its crypt, reputedly the largest in all France, 
is of a century earlier. 

Saintes is renowned to lovers of ceramics 
as being the birthplace of Bernard Pallisy, the 
inventor of the pottery glaze; and is the scene 
of many of his early experiments. A statue 
to his memory adorns the Place Bassompierre 
near the Arc de Triomphe. 



117 



X 

CATHEDRALE DE TULLE 

The charm of Tulle's cathedral is in its 
imposing and dominant character, rather than 
in any inherent grace or beauty which it pos- 
sesses. 

It is not a beautiful structure; it is not even 
picturesquely disposed ; it is grim and gaunt, 
and consists merely of a nave in the severe 
Romanesque-Transition manner, surmounted 
by a later and non-contemporary tower and 
spire. 

In spite of this it looms large from every 
view-point in the town, and is so lively a com- 
ponent of the busy life which surrounds it 
that it is — in spite of its severity of outline — 
a very appealing church edifice in more senses 
than one. 

Its tall, finely-proportioned tower and spire, 
which indeed is the chief attribute of grace 
and symmetry, is of the fourteenth century, 
and, though plain and primitive in its outlines, 

ii8 




GATHEDRALE 
de TULLE . . 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

is far more pleasing than the crocketed and 
rococo details which in a later day were com- 
posed into something which was thought to be 
a spire. 

In the earliest days of its history, this rather 
bare and cold church was a Benedictine mon- 
astery whose primitive church dated as far 
back as the seventh century. There are yet 
remains of a cloister which may have belonged 
to the early church of this monastic house, 
and as such is highly interesting, and withal 
pleasing. 

The bishopric was founded in 13 17 by Ar- 
naud de St. Astier. The Revolution caused 
much devastation here in the precincts of this 
cathedral, which was first stripped of its 
tresor, and finally of its dignity, when the see 
was abolished. 



119 



XI 

ST. PIERRE D'ANGOULEME 

Angouleme is often first called to mind 
by its famous or notorious Duchesse, whose 
fame is locally perpetuated by a not very suit- 
able column, erected in the Promenade Beau- 
lieu in 1815. There is certainly a wealth of 
romance to be conjured up from the recollec- 
tion of the famous Counts of Angouleme and 
their adherents, who made their residence in 
the ancient chateau which to-day forms in part 
the Hotel de Ville, and in part the prison. 
Here in this chateau was born Marguerite de 
Valois, the Marguerite of Marguerites, as 
Francois I. called her; here took welcome 
shelter, Marie de Medici after her husband's 
assassination; and here, too, much more of 
which history tells. 

What most histories do not tell is that the 
cathedral of St. Pierre d'Angouleme, with the 
cathedral of St. Front at Perigueux and Notre 
Dame de Poitiers, ranks at the very head of 

120 




s 



T. PIERRE . . . 
a'ANGOULEME 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

that magnificent architectural style known as 
Aquitanian. 

St. Ansone was the first bishop of the diocese 
— in the third century. The see was then, as 
now, a suffragan of Bordeaux. Religious 
wars, here as throughout Aquitaine, were re- 
sponsible for a great unrest among the people, 
as well as the sacrilege and desecration of 
church property. 

The most marked spoliation was at the 
hands of the Protestant Coligny, the effects of 
whose sixteenth-century ravages are yet visi- 
ble in the cathedral. 

A monk — Michel Grillet — was hung to 
a mulberry-tree, — which stood where now is 
the Place du Murier (mulberry), — by Co- 
ligny, who was reviled thus in the angry dying 
words of the monk: ''You shall be thrown 
out of the window like Jezebel, and shall be 
ignominiously dragged through the streets." 
This prophecy did not come true, but Coligny 
died an inglorious death in 1572, at the insti- 
gation of the Due de Guise. 

This cathedral ranks as one of the most 
curious in France, and, with its alien plan and 
details, has ever been the object of the pro- 
found admiration of all who have studied its 
varied aspects. 

121 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Mainly it is a twelfth-century edifice 
throughout, in spite of the extensive restora- 
tions of the nineteenth century, which have 
eradicated many crudities that might better 
have been allowed to remain. It is ranked 
by the Ministere des Beaux Arts as a Monu- 
ment Historique. 

The west front, in spite of the depredations 
before, during, and after the Revolution, is 
notable for its rising tiers of round-headed 
arches seated firmly on proportionate though 
not gross columns, its statued niches, the rich 
bas-reliefs of the tympanum of its portal, the 
exquisite arabesques, of lintel, frieze, and 
archivolt, and, above all, its large central arch 
with its Vesica piscis, and the added decora- 
tions of emblems of the evangels and angels. 
In addition to all this, which forms a gallery 
of artistic details in itself, the general dis- 
position of parts is luxurious and remark- 
able. 

As a whole, St. Pierre is commonly credited 
as possessing the finest Lombard detail to be 
found in the north ; some say outside of Italy. 
Certainly it is prodigious in its splendour, 
whatever may be one's predilections for or 
against the expression of its art. 

The church follows in general plan the same 

-122 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

distinctive style. Its tower, too, is Lombard, 
likewise the rounded apside, and — though 
the church is of the elongated Latin or cruci- 
form ground-plan — its possession of a great 
central dome (with three others above the 
nave — and withal aisleless) points certainly 
to the great domed churches of the Lombard 
plain for its ancestry. 

The western dome is of the eleventh cen- 
tury, the others of the twelfth. Its primitive- 
ness has been more or less distorted by later 
additions, made necessary by devastation in 
the sixteenth century, but it ranks to-day, with 
St. Front at Perigueux, as the leading example 
of the style known as Aquitanian. 

Above the western portal is a great window, 
very tall and showing in its glass a " Last 
Judgment." 

A superb tower ends off the croisillon on 
the north and rises to the height of one hun- 
dred and ninety-seven feet. " Next to the west 
front and the domed roofing of the interior, 
this tower ranks as the third most curious and 
remarkable feature of this unusual church." 
This tower, in spite of its appealing properties, 
is curiously enough not the original to which 
the previous descriptive lines applied; but 



123 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

their echo may be heard to-day with respect 
to the present tower, which is a reconstruction, 
of the same materials, and after the same man- 
ner, so far as possible, as the original. 

As the most notable and peculiar details of 
the interior, will be remarked the cupolas of 
the roof, and the lantern at the crossing, which 
is pierced by twelve windows. 

For sheer beauty, and its utile purpose as 
well, this great lanthorn is further noted as 
being most unusual in either the Romanesque 
or Gothic churches of France. 

The choir is apse-ended and is surrounded 
by four chapels of no great prominence or 
beauty. 

The south transept has a tour in embryo, 
which, had it been completed, would doubtless 
have been the twin of that which terminates 
the transept on the north. 

The foundations of the episcopal residence, 
which is immediately beside the cathedral (re- 
stored in the nineteenth century) , are very an- 
cient. In its garden stands a colossal statue 
to Comte Jean, the father of Frangois I. 

Angouleme was the residence of the Black 
Prince after the battle of Poitiers, though no 
record remains as to where he may have 



124 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

lodged. A house in die Rue de Geneve has 
been singled out in the past as being where 
John Calvin lived in 1533, but it is not recog- 
nizable to-day. 



125 



XII 

NOTRE DAME DE MOULINS 

" Les Bourbonnais sont ahnables, mais vainSj legers et 
facilement oublieux, avec rien d'excessif, run d' exuberance 
dans leur nature." 

— Andre Rolland. 

Until he had travelled through Bourbon- 
nais, '' the sweetest part of France — in the 
hey-day of the vintage," said Sterne, " I never 
felt the distress of plenty." 

This is an appropriate enough observation 
to have been promulgated by a latter-day 
traveller. Here the abundance which appar- 
ently pours forth for every one's benefit knows 
no diminution one season from another. One 
should not allow his pen to ramble to too great 
an extent in this vein, or he will soon say with 
Sterne: "Just Heaven! it will fill up twenty 
volumes, — and alas, there are but a few small 
pages! " 

It suffices, then, to reiterate, that in this 







- -"-^^^^ 




N 



OTRE DAME 
^e MOULIN S 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

plenteous land of mid-France there is, for all 
classes of man and beast, an abundance and 
excellence of the harvest of the soil which 
makes for a fondness to linger long within the 
confines of this region. Thus did the far-see- 
ing Bourbons, who, throughout the country 
which yet is called of them, set up many mag- 
nificent establishments and ensconced them- 
selves and their retainers among the comforts 
of this world to a far greater degree than many 
other ruling houses of mediaeval times. Per- 
haps none of the great names, among the long 
lists of lords, dukes, and kings, whose lands 
afterward came to make the solidarity of the 
all-embracing monarchy, could be accused of 
curtailing the wealth of power and goods 
which conquest or bloodshed could secure or 
save for them. 

The power of the Bourbons endured, like 
the English Tudors, but a century and a half 
beyond the period of its supremacy; whence, 
from its maturity onward, it rotted and was 
outrooted bodily. 

The literature of Moulins, for the English 
reading and speaking world, appears to be 
an inconsiderable quantity. Certain romances 
have been woven about the ducal chateau, 
and yet others concerning the all-powerful 

127 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Montmorencies, besides much history, which 
partakes generously of the components of 
literary expression. 

In the country round about — if the trav- 
eller has come by road, or for that matter by 
''train omnibus'' — \i he will but keep his 
eyes open, he will have no difficulty in rec- 
ognizing this picture: "A little farmhouse, 
surrounded with about twenty acres of vine- 
yard, and about as much corn — and close to 
the house, on one side, a potagerie of an acre 
and a half, full of everything which could 
make plenty in a French peasant's house — 
and on the other side a little wood, which fur- 
nished wherewithal to dress it." 

To continue, could one but see into that 
house, the picture would in no small degree 
dififer from this: '' A family consisting of an 
old, gray-headed man and his wife, with five 
or six sons and sons-in-law, and their several 
wives, and a joyous genealogy out of them 
... all sitting down together to their lentil 
soup; a large wheaten loaf in the middle of 
the table; and a flagon of wine at each end 
of it, and promised joy throughout the various 
stages of the repast." ■ 

Where in any other than this land of plenty, 
for the peasant and prosperous alike, could 

128 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

such a picture be drawn of the plenitude 
which surrounds the home life of a son of the 
soil and his nearest kin? Such an equipment 
of comfort and joy not only makes for a con- 
tinuous and placid contentment, but for char- 
acter and ambition ; in spite of all that harum- 
scarum Jeremiahs may proclaim out of their 
little knowledge and less sympathy with other 
afifairs than their own. No individualism is 
proclaimed, but it is intimated, and the reader 
may apply the observation wherever he may 
think it belongs. 

Moulins is the capital of the Bourbonnais 
— the name given to the province and the 
people alike. The derivation of the word 
Bourbon is more legendary than historical, 
if one is to give any weight to the discovery 
of a tablet at Bourbonne-les-Bains, in 1830, 
which bore the following dedication: 



DEO, APOL 

LINI BORVONI 

ET DAMONAE 

C DAMINIUS 

FEROX CIVIS 

LINGONUS EX 

VOTO 

129 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Its later application to the land which shel- 
tered the race is elucidated by a French writer, 
thus: 

" Considering that the names of all the 
cities and towns known as des sources d'eaux 
thermales commence with either the prefix 
Bour or Bor, indicates a common origin of the 
word . . . from the name of the divinity 
which protects the waters." 

This is so plausible and picturesque a con- 
jecture that it would seem to be true. 

Archaeologists have singled out from among 
the most beautiful chapelles seigneuriales the 
one formerly contained in the ducal palace 
of the Bourbons at Moulins. This formed, 
of course, a part of that gaunt, time-worn 
fabric which faces the westerly end of the 
cathedral. 

Little there is to-day to suggest this splen- 
dour, and for such one has to look to those 
examples yet to be seen at Chambord or Che- 
nonceaux, or that of the Maison de Jacques 
Cceur at Bourges, with which, in its former 
state, this private chapel of the Bourbons was 
a contemporary. 

The other chief attraction of Moulins is the 
theatrical Mausolee de Henri de Montmo- 
rency, a seventeenth-century work which is 

130 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

certainly gorgeous and splendid in its mag- 
nificence, if not in its aesthetic value as an art 
treasure. 

The fresh, modern-looking cathedral of 
Notre Dame de Moulins is a more ancient 
work than it really looks, though in its com- 
pleted form it dates only from the late nine- 
teenth century, when the indefatigable VioUet- 
le-Duc erected the fine twin towers and com- 
pleted the western front. 

The whole effect of this fresh-looking edi- 
fice is of a certain elegance, though in reality 
of no great luxuriousness. 

The portal is deep but unornamented, and 
the rose window above is of generous design, 
though not actually so great in size as at first 
appears. Taken tout ensemble this west front 
— of modern design and workmanship — is 
far more expressive of the excellent and true 
proportions of the mediaeval workers than is 
usually the case. 

The spires are lofty (312 feet) and are de- 
cidedly the most beautiful feature of the en- 
tire design. 

The choir, the more ancient portion ( 1465 — 
1507), expands into a more ample width than 
the nave and has a curiously squared-ofT ter- 
mination which would hardly be described 

131 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

as an apside, though the effect is circular when 
viewed from within. The choir, too, rises to 
a greater height than the nave, and, though 
there is no very great discrepancy in style be- 
tween the easterly and westerly ends, the line 
of demarcation is readily placed. The square 
flanking chapels of the choir serve to give an 
ampleness to the ambulatory which is un- 
usual, and in the exterior present again a 
most interesting arrangement and effect. 

The cathedral gives on the west on the 
Place du Chateau, with the bare, broken wall 
of the ducal chateau immediately en face, 
and the Gendarmerie, which occupies a most 
interestingly picturesque Renaissance build- 
ing, is immediately to the right. 

The interior arrangements of this brilliant 
cathedral church are quite as pleasing and 
true as the exterior. There is no poverty in 
design or decoration, and no overdeveloped 
luxuriance, except for the accidence of the 
Renaissance tendencies of its time. 

There is no flagrant offence committed, 
however, and the ambulatory of the choir and 
its queer overhanging gallery at the rear of 
the altar are the only unusual features from 
the conventional decorated Gothic plan; if 
we except the baldachino which covers the 

132 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

altar-table, and which is actually hideous in 
its enormity. 

The bishop's throne, curiously enough, — 
though the custom is, it appears, very, very 
old, — is placed behind the high-altar. 

The triforium and clerestory of the choir 
have gracefully heightened arches supported 
by graceful pillars, which give an effect of 
exceeding lightness. 

In the nave the triforium is omitted, and 
the clerestory only overtops the pillars of nave 
and aisles. 

The transepts are not of great proportions, 
but are not in any way attenuated. 

Under the high-altar is a " Holy Sepul- 
chre " of the sixteenth century, which is pene- 
trated by an opening which gives on the ambu- 
latory of the choir. 

There is a bountiful display of coloured 
glass of the Renaissance period, and, in the 
sacristy, a triptych atributed to Ghirlandajo. 

There are no other artistic accessories of 
note, and the cathedral depends, in the main, 
for its satisfying qualities in its general com- 
pleteness and consistency. 



^Z'i 



XIII 

NOTRE DAME DE LE PUY 

" Under the sun of the Midi I have seen the Pyrenees 
and the Alps, crowned in rose and silver, but I best love 
Auvergne and its bed of gorse." 

— Pierre de Nolhac. 

Le Puy has been called — by a discerning 
traveller — and rightly enough,^ too, in the 
opinion of most persons — ''the most pictur- 
esque spot in the world/' Whether every 
visitor thereto will endorse this unqualifiedly 
depends somewhat on his view-point, and still 
more on his ability to discriminate. 

Le Puy certainly possesses an unparalleled 
array of what may as well be called rare at- 
tractions. These are primarily the topograph- 
ical, architectural, and, first, last, and all 
times, picturesque elements which only a 
blind man could fail to diagnose as something 
unique and not to be seen elsewhere. 

In the first category are the extraordinary 

134 







N 



OTRE DAME 

de LE PUT . 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

pinnacles of volcanic rock with which the 
whole surrounding landscape is peopled; in 
the second, the city's grand architectural 
monuments, cathedrals, churches, monastery 
and the chateau of Polignac; while thirdly, 
the whole aspect is irritatingly picturesque to 
the lover of topographical charm and feature. 
Here the situation of the city itself, in a basin 
of surrounding peaks, its sky-piercing, tur- 
reted rocks, and the general effect produced 
by its architectural features all combine to 
present emotions which a large catalogue 
were necessary to define. 

Moreover, Le Puy is the gateway to a hith- 
erto almost unknown region to the English- 
speaking tourist. At least it would have been 
unknown but for the eulogy given it by the 
wandering Robert Louis Stevenson, who, in 
his "Travels with a Donkey," (not "On a 
Donkey," — mark the distinction), has made 
the Cevennes known, at least as a nodding ac- 
quaintance, to — well, a great many who 
would never have consciously realized that 
there was such a place. 

Le Puy is furthermore as yet unspoiled by 
the " conducted tourist," and lives the same 
life that it has for many generations. Electric 
trams have come, to be sure, and certain im- 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

provements in the way of boulevards and 
squares have been laid out, but, in the main, 
the narrow, tortuous streets which ascend to its 
cathedral-crowned height are much as they 
always were; and the native pays little heed 
to the visitor, of which class not many ever 
come to the city — perhaps for the reason that 
Le Puy is not so very accessible by rail. Both 
by the line which descends the Rhone valley 
and its parallel line from Paris to Nimes, one 
has to branch off, and is bound to lose from 
three to six hours — or more, at some point or 
other, making connections. This is as it should 
be — in spite of the apparent retrogression. 

When one really does get to Le Puy nothing 
should satisfy him but to follow the trail of 
Stevenson's donkey into the heart of the 
Cevennes, that wonderful country which lies 
to the southward, and see and know for him- 
self some of the things which that delectable 
author set forth in the record of his travels. 

Monastier, Le Cheylard, La Bastide, Notre 
Dame des Neiges, Mont Mezenac, and many 
more delightful places are, so far as personal 
knowledge goes, a sealed book to most folk; 
and after one has visited them for himself, he 
may rest assured they will still remain a sealed 
book to the mass. 

136 



The Cathedrals oj Southern France 

The ecclesiastical treasures of Le Puy are 
first and foremost centred around its wonder- 
ful, though bizarre, Romanesque cathedral of 
Notre Dame. 

Some have said that this cathedral church 
dates from the fifth century. Possibly this is 
so, but assuredly there is no authority which 
makes a statement which is at all convincing 
concerning any work earlier than the tenth 
century. 

Le Puy's first bishop was St. Georges, — in 
the third century, — at which time, as now, 
the diocese was a suffragan of Bourges. 

The cathedral itself is perched on a hilltop 
behind which rises an astonishing crag or pin- 
nacle, — the rocher Corneille, which, in turn, 
is surmounted by a modern colossal bronze 
figure, commonly called Notre Dame de 
France, The native will tell you that it is 
called '' the Virgin of Le Puy." Due allow- 
ance for local pride doubtless accounts for this. 
Its height is fifty feet, and while astonishingly 
impressive in many ways, is, as a work of art, 
without beauty in itself. 

There is a sort of subterranean or crypt- 
like structure, beneath the westerly end of the 
cathedral, caused by the extreme slope of the 
rock upon which the choir end is placed. One 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

enters by a stairway of sixty steps, which is 
beneath the parti-coloured fagade of the 
twelfth century. It is very striking and must 




Le Puy 

be a unique approach to a cathedral; the en- 
trance here being two stories below that of the 
pavement of nave and choir. This porch of 
three round-arched naves is wholly unusual. 

138 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Entrance to the main body of the church is 
finally gained through the transept. 

The whole structure is curiously kaleido- 
scopic, with blackish and dark brown tints 
predominating, but alternating — in the west 
fagade, which has been restored in recent 
times — with bands of a lighter and again 
a darker stone. It has been called by a certain 
red-robed mentor of travel-lore an ungainly, 
venerable, but singular edifice: quite a non- 
committal estimate, and one which, like most 
of its fellows, is worse than a slander. It is 
most usually conceded by French authorities 
— who might naturally be supposed to know 
their subject — that it is very nearly the most 
genuinely interesting exposition of a local 
manner of church-building extant; and as 
such the cathedral at Le Puy merits great con- 
sideration. 

The choir is the oldest portion, and is prob- 
ably not of later date than the tenth century. 
The glass therein is modern. It has a posses- 
sion, a ''miraculous virgin," — w^hose prede- 
cessor was destroyed in the fury of the 
Revolution, — which is supposed to work won- 
ders upon those who bestow an appropriate 
votive offering. To the former shrine came 
many pilgrims, numbering among them, it is 

^39 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

said rather indefinitely and doubtfully, " sev- 
eral popes and the following kings: Louis 
VII., Philippe-Auguste, Philippe-le-Hardi, 
Charles VL, Charles VIL, Louis XL, and 
Charles VIIL" 

To-day, as if doubtful of the shrine's effi- 
cacy, the pilgrims are few in number and 
mostly of the peasant class. 

The bays of the nave are divided by round- 
headed arches, but connected with the oppos- 
ing bay by the ogival variety. 

The transepts have apsidal terminations, as 
is much more frequent south of the Loire than 
in the north of France, but still of sufficient 
novelty to be remarked here. The east end is 
rectangular — which is really a very unusual 
attribute in any part of France, only two ex- 
amples elsewhere standing out prominently — 
the cathedrals at Laon and Dol-de-Bretagne. 
The cloister of Notre Dame, small and simple 
though it be, is of a singular charm and tran- 
quillity. 

With the tower or cupola of this cathedral 
the architects of Auvergne achieved a result 
very near the perfectionnement of its style. 
Like all of the old-time dockers erected in this 
province — anterior to Gothic — it presents a 
great analogy to Byzantine origin, though, in 

140 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

a way, not quite like it either. Still the effect 
of columns and pillars, in both the interior 
construction and exterior decoration of these 
fine towers, forms something which suggests, 
at least, a development of an ideal which bears 
little, or no, relation to the many varieties of 
campanile, beffroi, tour or clocher seen else- 
where in France. The spire, as we know it 
elsewhere, a dominant pyramidal termination, 
the love of which Mistral has said is the foun- 
dation of patriotism, is in this region almost 
entirely wanting; showing that the influence, 
from whatever it may have sprung, was no 
copy of anything which had gone before, nor 
even the suggestion of a tendency or influence 
toward the pointed Gothic, or northern style. 
Therefore the towers, like most other features 
of this style, are distinctly of the land of its 
environment — Auvergnian. 

This will call to mind, to the American, the 
fact that Trinity Church in Boston is mani- 
festly the most distinctive application, in for- 
eign lands, of the form and features of the 
manner of church-building of the Auvergne. 

Particularly is this to be noted by viewing 
the choir exterior with its inlaid or geomet- 
rically planned stonework: a feature which is 
Romanesque if we go back far enough, but 

141 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

which is distinctly Auvergnian in its mediaeval 

use. 

For sheer novelty, before even the towering 
bronze statue of the Virgin, which overtops 
the cathedral, must be placed that other 
needle-like basaltic eminence which is 
crowned by a tiny chapel dedicated to St. 
Michel. 

This '' aiguille'' as it is locally known, rises 
something over two hundred and fifty feet 
from the river-bed at its base; like a sharp 
cone, dwindling from a diameter of perhaps 
five hundred feet at its base to a scant fifty at 
its apex. 

St. Michel has always had a sort of vested 
proprietorship in such pinnacles as this, and 
this tiny chapel in his honour was the erection 
of a prelate of the diocese of Le Puy in the 
tenth century. The chapel is Romanesque, 
octagonal, and most curious ; with its isolated 
situation, — only reached by a flight of many 
steps cut in the rock, — and its tesselated stone 
pavements, its mosaic in basalt of the por- 
tal, and its few curious sculptures in stone. As 
a place of pilgrimage for a twentieth-cen- 
tury tourist it is much more appealing than 
the Virgin-crowned rocher Corneille; each 
will anticipate no inconsiderable amount of 

142 , 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

physical labour, which, however, is the true 
pilgrim spirit. 

The chateau of Polignac compels attention, 
and it is not so very foreign to church affairs 
after all; the house of the name gave to the 
court of Louis XIV. a cardinal. 

To-day this one-time feudal stronghold is 
but a mere ruin. The Revolution finished it, 
as did that fury many another architectural 
glory of France. 




The Black Virgin^ Le Puy 



143 



XIV 

NOTRE DAME DE CLERMONT - FERRAND 

Clermont-Ferrand is the hub from which 
radiates in the season, — from April to Oc- 
tober, — and in all directions, the genuine 
French touriste. He is a remarkable species 
of traveller, and he apportions to himself the 
best places in the char-a bancs and the most 
convenient seats at table d'hote with a dis- 
crimination that is perfection. He is not much 
interested in cathedrals, or indeed in the twin 
city of Clermont-Ferrand itself, but rather 
his choice lies in favour of Mont Dore, Puy 
de Dome, Royat, St. Nectaire, or a dozen 
other alluring tourist resorts in which the 
neighbouring volcanic region abounds. 

By reason of this — except for its hotels and 
cafes — Clermont-Ferrand is justly entitled to 
rank as one of the most ancient and important 
centres of Christianity in France. 

Its cathedral is not of the local manner of 
building: it is of manifest Norman example. 

144 




N 



OTRE DAME 

de CLERMONT-FERRAND 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

But the Eglise Notre Dame du Port is Au- 
vergnian of the most profound type, and 
withal, perhaps more appealing than the 
cathedral itself. Furthermore the impulse of 
the famous crusades first took form here under 
the fervent appeal of Urban II., who was in 
the city at the Council of the Church held in 
1095. Altogether the part played by this city 
of mid-France in the affairs of the Christian 
faith was not only great, but most important 
and far-reaching in its effect. 

In its cathedral are found to a very con- 
siderable extent those essentials to the realiza- 
tion of the pure Gothic style, which even Sir 
Christopher Wren confessed his inability to 
fully comprehend. 

It is a pleasant relief, and a likewise pleas- 
ant reminder of the somewhat elaborate glo- 
ries of the Isle of France, to come upon an 
edifice which at least presents a semblance to 
the symmetrical pointed Gothic of the north. 
The more so in that it is surrounded by Ro- 
manesque and local types which are peers 
among their class. 

Truly enough it is that such churches as 
Notre Dame du Port, the cathedral at Le 
Puy, and the splendid series of Romanesque 
churches at Poitiers are as interesting and as 

145 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

worthy of study as the resplendent modern 
Gothic. On the other hand, the transition 
to the baseness of the Renaissance, — without 
the intervention of the pointed style, — while 
not so marked here as elsewhere, is yet even 
more painfully impressed upon one. 

The contrast between the Romanesque 
style, which was manifestly a good style, 
and the Renaissance, which was palpably 
bad, suggests, as forcibly as any event of his- 
tory, the change of temperament which came 
upon the people, from the fifteenth to the 
seventeenth centuries. 

This cathedral is possessed of two fine west- 
ern towers (340 feet in height), graceful in 
every proportion, hardy without being 
clumsy, symmetrical without weakness, and 
dwindling into crowning spires after a man- 
ner which approaches similar works at Bor- 
deaux and Quimper. These examples are not 
of first rank, but, if not of masterful design, 
are at least acceptable exponents of the form 
they represent. 

These towers, as well as the western portal, 
are, however, of a very late date. They are 
the work of Viollet-le-Duc in the latter half 
of the nineteenth century, and indicate — if 
nothing more — that, where a good model is 

146 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

used, a modern Gothic work may still betray 
the spirit of antiquity. This gifted architect 
was not so successful with the western towers 
of the abbey church of St. Ouen at Rouen. 
Externally the cathedral at Clermont-Ferrand 
shows a certain lack of uniformity. 

Its main fabric, of a black volcanic stone, 
dates from 1248 to 1265. At this time the 
work was in charge of one Jean Deschamps. 

The church was not, however, consecrated 
until nearly a century later, and until the com- 
pletion of the west front remained always an 
unfinished work which received but scant 
consideration from lovers of church architec- 
ture. 

The whole structure was sorely treated at 
the Revolution, was entirely stripped of its 
ornaments and what monuments it possessed, 
and was only saved from total destruction by 
a subterfuge advanced by a local magistrate, 
who suggested that the edifice might be put to 
other than its original use. 

The first two bays of the nave are also of 
nineteenth-century construction. This must 
account for the frequent references of a former 
day to the general effect of incompleteness. 
To-day it is a coherent if not a perfect whole, 

147 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

though works of considerable magnitude are 
still under way. 

The general effect of the interior is har- 
monious, though gloomy as to its lighting, and 
bare as to its walls. 

The vault rises something over a hundred 
feet above the pavement, and the choir plat- 
form is considerably elevated. The aisles of 
the nave are doubled, and very wide. 

The joints of pier and wall have been newly 
" pointed," giving an impression of a more 
modern work than the edifice really is. 

The glass of the nave and choir is of a rare 
quality and unusually abundant. How it es- 
caped the fury of the Revolution is a mystery. 

There are two fifteenth-century rose win- 
dows in the transepts, and a more modern ex- 
ample in the west front, the latter being 
decidedly inferior to the others. The glass 
of the choir is the most beautiful of all, and is 
of the time of Louis IX., whose arms, quar- 
tered with those of Spain, are shown therein. 
The general effect of this coloured glass is not 
of the supreme excellence of that at Chartres, 
but the effect of mellowness, on first entering, 
is in every way more impressive than that of 
any other cathedral south of the Loire. 

The organ buffet has, in this instance, been 

148 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

cut away to allow of the display of the mod- 
em rosace. This is a most thoughtful consid- 
eration of the attributes of a grand window; 
which is obviously that of giving a pleasing 
effect to an interior, rather than its inclusion 
in the exterior scheme of decoration. 

In the choir is a retable of gilded and 
painted wood, representing the life of St. 
Crepinien, a few tombs, and in the chapels 
some frescoes of the thirteenth century. There 
is the much-appreciated astronomical clock 
— a curiosity of doubtful artistic work and 
symbolism — in one of the transepts. 

A statue of Pope Urban II. is en face to the 
right of the cathedral. 

At the Council of 1095 Urban II. preached 
for the first crusade to avenge the slaughter 
'' of pilgrims, princes, and bishops," which 
had taken place at Romola in Palestine, and 
to regain possession of Jerusalem and the Holy 
Sepulchre from the Turkish Sultan, Ortock. 

The enthusiasm of the pontiff was so great 
that the masses forthwith entered fully into 
the spirit of the act, the nobles tearing their 
red robes into shreds to form the badge of the 
crusader's cross, which was given to all who 
took the vow. 

By command of the Pope, every serf who 

149 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

took the cross was to obtain his liberty from 
his overlord. This fact, perhaps, more than 
any other led to the swelled ranks of the first 
crusade under Peter the Hermit. 

The rest is history, though really much of 
its written chronicle is really romance. 

Clermont was a bishopric in the third cen- 
tury, with St. Austremoine as its first bishop. 
The diocese is to-day a suffragan of Bourges. 

At the head of the Cours Sablon is a fif- 
teenth-century fountain, executed to the order 
of a former bishop, Jacques d'Amboise. 

The bibliotheque still preserves, among 
fifty thousand volumes and eleven hundred 
MSS., an illuminated folio Bible of the 
twelfth century, a missal which formerly be- 
longed to Pope Clement VL, and a ninth-cen- 
tury manuscript of the monk, Gregory of 
Tours. 

Near the cathedral in the Rue de Petit Gras 
is the birthplace of the precocious Blaise Pas- 
cal, who next to Urban II. — if not even be- 
fore him — is perhaps Clermont's most famous 
personage. A bust of the celebrated writer is 
let into the wall which faces the Passage Ver- 
nines, and yet another adorns the entrance to 
the bibliotheque; and again another — a full- 
length figure this time — is set about with 

150 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

growing plants, in the Square Blaise Pascal. 
Altogether one will judge that Pascal is indeed 
the most notable figure in the secular history 
of the city. This most original intellect of his 
time died in 1662, at the early age of thirty- 
nine. 



151 



XV 

ST. FULCRAN DE LODEVE 

LODEVE, seated tightly among the moun- 
tains, near the confluence of the rivers Solon- 
dre and Lergue, not far from the Cevennes 
and the borders of the Gevaudan, was a bish- 
opric, suffragan of Narbonne, as early as the 
beginning of the fourth century. 

It had been the capital of the Gallic tribe of 
the Volsques, then a pagan Roman city, and 
finally was converted to Christianity in the 
year 323 by the apostle St. Flour, who founded 
the bishopric, which, with so many others, was 
suppressed at the Revolution. 

The city suffered greatly from the wars of 
the Goths, the Albigenses, and later the civil 
wars of the Protestants and Catholics. The 
bishops of Lodeve were lords by virtue of the 
fact that the title was bought from the vis- 
counts whose honour it had previously held, 
St. Guillem Ley Desert (O. F.), a famous 

152 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

abbey of the Benedictines, founded by an an- 
cestor of the Prince of Orange, is near by. 

The ancient cathedral of St. Fulcran is 
situated in the haute-ville and dates, as to its 
foundation walls, from the middle of the tenth 
century. The reconstructed present-day edi- 
fice is mainly of the thirteenth century, and 
as an extensive work of its time is entitled to 
rank with many of the cathedral churches 
which survived the Revolution. By the end 
of the sixteenth century, the last remaining 
work and alterations were completed, and one 
sees therefore a fairly consistent mediaeval 
church. The west fagade is surmounted by 
tourelles which are capped with a defending 
machicoulis, presumably for defence from at- 
tack from the west, as this battlement could 
hardly have been intended for mere ornament, 
decorative though it really is. The interior 
height rises to something approximating 
eighty feet, and is imposing to a far greater 
degree than many more magnificent and 
wealthy churches. 

The choir is truly elegant in its proportions 
and decorations, its chief ornament being that 
of the high-altar, and the white marble lions 
which flank the stalls. From the choir one 
enters the ruined cloister of the fifteenth cen- 

"^53 



The Cathedrals of Sozithern France 

tury; which, if not remarkable in any way, 
is at least distinctive and a sufficiently un- 
common appendage of a cathedral church to 
be remarked. 

A marble tomb of a former bishop, — 
Plantavit de la Pause, — a distinguished prel- 
ate and bibliophile, is also in the choir. This 
monument is a most worthy artistic effort, 
and shows two lions lying at the foot of a full- 
length figure of the churchman. It dates 
from 165 1, and, though of Renaissance work- 
manship, its design and sculpture — like most 
monumental work of its era — are far ahead 
of the quality of craftsmanship displayed by 
the builders and architects of the same period. 

The one-time episcopal residence is now 
occupied by the hotel de ville, the tribunal, 
and the caserne de gendarmerie. As a shelter 
for civic dignity this is perhaps not a descent 
from its former glory, but as a caserne it is 
a shameful debasement; not, however, as 
mean as the level to which the papal palace 
at Avignon has fallen. 

The guide-book information — which, be it 
said, is not disputed or reviled here — states 
that the city's manufactories supply sur- 
tout des draps for the army; but the church- 
lover will get little sustenance for his refined 

154 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

appetite from this kernel of matter-of-fact in- 
formation. 

Lodeve is, however, a charming provincial 
town, with two ancient bridges crossing its 
rivers, a ruined chateau, Montbrun, and a fine 
promenade which overlooks the river valleys 
round about. 



^SS 



PART III 

The Rhone Valley 



INTRODUCTORY 

The knowledge of the geographer Ptol- 
emy, who wrote in the second century with 
regard to the Rhone, was not so greatly at 
fault as with respect to other topographical 
features, such as coasts and boundaries. 

Perhaps the fact that Gaul had for so long 
been under Roman dominion had somewhat 
to do with this. 

He gives, therefore, a tolerably correct ac- 
count as to this mighty river, placing its 
sources in the Alps, and tracing its flow 
through the lake Lemannus (Leman) to 
Lugdunum (Lyon); whence, turning sharply 
to the southward, it enters the Mediterranean 
south of Aries. Likewise, he correctly adds 
that the upper river is joined with the com- 
bined flow of the Doubs and Saone, but com- 
mits the error of describing their source to 
be also in the Alps. 

Philip Gilbert Hamerton, who knew 

^S9 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

these parts well, — his home was near Autun, 
— has described the confluence of the Saone 
and Rhone thus: 

" The width and depth of the two rivers 
are equal, but the swift-flowing Rhone dis- 
charges twice the volume of water of the slow- 
running Saone. They also differ remarkably 
in colour. The Saone is emerald-green and 
the Rhone blue-green. Here the minor river 
loses its name and character, and, by an un- 
usual process, the slowest and most navigable 
stream in Europe joins the swiftest and least 
navigable. The Flumen Araris ceases and 
becomes the Rhodanus/' 

The volume of water which yearly courses 
down the Rhone is perhaps greater than 
would first appear, when, at certain seasons 
of the year, one sees a somewhat thin film of 
water gliding over a wide expanse of yellow 
sand and shingle. 

Throughout, however, it is of generous 
width and at times rises in a true torrential 
manner: this when the spring freshets and 
melting Alpine snows are directed thither 
toward their natural outlet to the sea. " Riv- 
ers," said Blaise Pascal, " are the roads that 
move." Along the great river valleys of the 
Rhone, the Loire, the Seine, and the Rhine 

1 60 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

were made the first Roman roads, the proto- 
types of the present-day means of communica- 
tion. 

The development of civilization and the 
arts along these great pathways was rapid and 
extensive. Two of them, at least, gave birth 
to architectural styles quite differing from 
other neighbouring types: the Romain-Ger- 
manique — bordering along the Rhine and 
extending to Alsace and the Vosges; and the 
Romain-Bourguignon, which followed the 
valley of the Rhone from Bourgogne to the 
Mediterranean and the Italian frontier, in- 
cluding all Provence. 

The true source of the Rhone is in the Pen- 
nine Alps, where, in consort with three other 
streams, the Aar, the Reuss, and the Ticino, 
it rises in a cloven valley close to the lake of 
Brienz, amid that huge jumble of mountain- 
tops, which differs so greatly from the pop- 
ular conception of a mountain range. 

Dauphine and Savoie are to-day compara- 
tively unknown by parlour-car travellers. 
Dauphine, with its great historical associa- 
tions, the wealth and beauty of its architec- 
ture, the magnificence of its scenery, has al- 
ways had great attractions for the historian, 
the archaeologist, and the scholar; to the tour- 

i6i 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ist, however, even to the French tourist, it 
remained for many years a terra incognita. 
Yet no country could present the traveller 
with a more wonderful succession of ever- 
changing scenery, such a rich variety of land- 
scape, ranging from verdant plain to moun- 
tain glacier, from the gay and picturesque to 
the sublime and terrible. Planted in the very 
heart of the French Alps, rising terrace above 
terrace from the lowlands of the Rhone to the 
most stupendous heights, Dauphine may with 
reason claim to be the worthy rival of Switzer- 
land. 

The romantic associations of " La Grande 
Chartreuse "; of the charming valley towns of 
Sion and Aoste, famed alike in the history of 
Church and State; and of the more splen- 
didly appointed cities of Grenoble and Cham- 
bery, will make a new leaf in the books of 
most peoples' experiences. 

The rivers Durance, Isere, and Drome 
drain the region into the more ample basin 
of the Rhone, and the first of the three — for 
sheer beauty and romantic picturesqueness — 
will perhaps rank first in all the world. 

The chief associations of the Rhone valley 
with the Church are centred around Lyon, 
Vienne, Avignon, and Aries. The associa- 

162 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

tions of history — a splendid and a varied 
past — stand foremost at Orange, Nimes, Aix, 
and Marseilles. It is not possible to deal here 
with the many pays et pagi of the basin of the 
Rhone. 

Of all, Provence — that golden land — 
stands foremost and compels attention. One 
might praise it ad infinitum in all its splendid 
attributes and its glorious past, but one could 
not then do it justice; better far that one 
should sum it up in two words — " Mistral's 
world." 

The popes and the troubadours combined 
to cast a glamour over the '' fair land of Pro- 
vence " which is irresistible. Here were 
architectural monuments, arches, bridges, 
aqueducts, and arenas as great and as splen- 
did as the world has ever known. Aix-en- 
Provence, in King Rene's time, was the gay- 
est capital of Europe, and the influence of its 
arts and literature spread to all parts. 

To the south came first the Visigoths, then 
the conflicting and repelling Ostrogoths; be- 
tween them soon to supplant the Gallo-Roman 
cultivation which had here grown so vigor- 
ously. 

It was as late as the sixth century when the 
Ostrogoths held the brilliant sunlit city of 

163 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Aries; when follows a history — applicable 
as well to most of all southern France — of 
many dreary centuries of discordant races, 
of varying religious faiths, and adherence 
now to one lord and master, and then to 
another. 

Monuments of various eras remain ; so 
numerously that one can rebuild for them- 
selves much that has disappeared for ever: 
palaces as at Avignon, castles as at Tarascon 
and Beaucaire, and walled cities as at Aigues- 
Morte. What limitless suggestion is in the 
thought of the assembled throngs who peopled 
the tiers of the arenas and theatres of Aries 
and Nimes in days gone by. The sensation is 
rnostly to be derived, however, from thought 
and conjecture. The painful and nullifying 
^'spectacles'' and '^ courses des taureaux'' 
which periodically hold forth to-day in these 
noble arenas, are mere travesties on their 
splendid functions of the past. Much more 
satisfying — and withal more artistic — are 
the theatrical representations in that magnifi- 
cent outdoor theatre at Orange; where so re- 
cently as the autumn of 1903 was given a 
grand representation of dramatic art, with 
Madame Bernhardt, Coquelin, and others of 



164 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the galaxy which grace the French stage to- 
day, taking part therein. 

Provengal literature is a vast and varied 
subject, and the women of Aries — the true 
Arlesians of the poet and romancer — are as- 
tonishingly beautiful. Each of these subjects 
— to do them justice — would require much 
ink and paper. Daudet, in " Tartarin," has 
these opening words, as if no others were 
necessary in order to lead the way into a new 
world: " IT WAS September and it was 
Provence.'' Frederic Mistral, in " Mireio," 
has written the great modern epic of Pro- 
vence, which depicts the life as well as 
the literature of the ancient troubadours. 
The " Fountain of Vaucluse " will carry 
one back still further in the ancient Pro- 
vengal atmosphere; to the days of Pe- 
trarch and Laura, and the " little fish of 
Sorgues." 

What the Romance language really was, 
authorities — if they be authorities — differ. 
Hence it were perhaps well that no attempt 
should be made here to define what others 
have failed to place, beyond this observation, 
which is gathered from a source now lost to 
recollection, but dating from a century ago 
at least: 

165 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

" The southern or Romance language, the 
tongue of all the people who obeyed Charle- 
magne in the south of Europe, proceeded 
from the parent-vitiated Latin. 

'' The Provengaux assert, and the Spaniards 
deny, that the Spanish tongue is derived from 
the original Romance, though neither the 
Italians nor the French are willing to owe 
much to it as a parent, in spite of the fact 
that Petrarch eulogized it, and the trouba- 
dours as well. 

'^ The Toulousans roundly assert that the 
Provengal is the root of all other dialects 
whatever [vide Cazeneuve) . Most Spanish 
writers on the other hand insist that the Pro- 
vengal is derived from the Spanish {vide 
Coleccion de Poesias Caste lianas; Madrid, 

1779)'' 

At all events the idiom, from whatever it 
may have sprung, took root, propagated and 
flourished in the land of the Provengal trou- 
badours. 

Whatever may have been the real extent of 
the influences which went out from Provence, 
it is certain that the marriage of Robert with 
Constance — daughter of the first Count of 
Provence, about the year 1000 — was the 
period of a great change in manners and 

166 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

customs throughout the kingdom. Some even 
have asserted that this princess brought in 
her train the troubadours w^ho spread the 
taste for poetry and its accompaniments 
throughout the north of France. 

The " Provence rose," so celebrated in 
legend and literature, can hardly be dismissed 
w^ithout a word; though, in truth, the casual 
traveller will hardly know of its existence, 
unless he may have a sweet recollection of 
some rural maid, who, with sleeves carefully 
rolled up, stood before her favourite rose- 
tree, tenderly examining it, and driving away 
a buzzing fly or a droning wasp. 

These firstlings of the season are tended 
with great pride. The distinctive " rose of 
Provence " is smaller, redder, and more elas- 
tic and concentric than the centifolice of the 
north, and for this reason, likely, it appears 
the more charming to the eye of the native 
of the north, who, if we are to believe the 
romanticists, is made a child again by the 
mere contemplation of this lovely flower. 

The glory of this rich red " Provence 
rose " is in dispute between Provence and 
Provins, the ancient capital of La Brie; but 
the weight of the argument appears to favour 
the former. 

167 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Below Aries and Nimes the Rhone broad- 
ens out into a many-fingered estuary, and 
mingles its Alpine flood with the blue waters 
of the Mediterranean. 

The delta has been formed by the activity 
and energy of the river itself, from the fourth 
century — when it is known that Aries lay six- 
teen miles from the sea — till to-day, when it 
is something like thirty. This ceaseless carry- 
ing and filling has resulted in a new coast-line, 
which not only has changed the topography 
of the region considerably, but may be sup- 
posed to have actually worked to the com- 
mercial disadvantage of the country round 
about. 

The annual prolongation of the shores — 
the reclaimed water-front — is about one hun- 
dred and sixty-four feet, hence some consid- 
erable gain is accounted for, but whether to 
the nation or the " squatter " statistics do not 
say. 

The delta of the Rhone has been described 
by an expansive French writer as : '^ Some- 
thing quite separate from the rest of France. 
It is a wedge of Greece and of the East thrust 
into Gaul. It came north a hundred (or 
more) years ago and killed the Monarchy. 



i68 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

It caught the value in, and created the great 
war-song of the Republic." 

There is a deal of subtlety in these few lines, 
and they are given here because of their truth 
and applicability. 



169 



II 

ST. ETIENNE DE CHALONS - SUR - SAONE 

" The cathedral at Chalons," says Philip 
Gilbert Hamerton, — who knew the entire 
region of the Saone better perhaps than any 
other Anglo-Saxon, — " has twin towers, 
which, in the evening, at a distance, recall 
Notre Dame (at Paris), and there are domes, 
too, as in the capital." 

An imaginative description surely, and one 
that is doubtless not without truth were one 
able to first come upon this riverside city 
of mid-France in the twilight, and by boat 
from the upper river. 

Chalons is an ideally situated city, with a 
placidness which the slow current of the 
Saone does not disturb. But its cathedral! 
It is no more like its Parisian compeer than 
it is like the Pyramids of Egypt. 

In the first place, the cathedral towers are 
a weak, effeminate imitation of a prototype 
which itself must have been far removed from 

170 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Notre Dame, and they have been bolstered 
and battened in a shameful fashion. 

The cathedral at Chalons is about the most 
ancient-looking possession of the city, which 
in other respects is quite modern, and, aside 
from its charming situation and general at- 
tractiveness, takes no rank whatever as a cen- 
tre of ancient or mediaeval art. 

Its examples of Gallic architecture are not 
traceable to-day, and of Roman remains it 
possesses none. As a Gallic stronghold, — it 
was never more than that, — it appealed to 
Caesar merely as a base from which to advance 
or retreat, and its history at this time is not 
great or abundant. 

A Roman wall is supposed to have existed, 
but its remains are not traceable to-day, 
though tradition has it that a quantity of its 
stones were transported by the monk Benigne 
for the rotunda which he built at Dijon. 

The city's era of great prosperity was the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when its 
fortifications were built up anew, its cathe- 
dral finished, and fourteen churches held 
forth. 

From this high estate it has sadly fallen, 
and there is only its decrepit cathedral, re- 
built after a seventeenth-century fire, and two 

171 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

churches — one of them modern — to uphold 
its ecclesiastical dignity. 

The towers of the cathedral are of the sev- 
enteenth century, but the so-called '' Deanery 
Tower " is more ancient, and suggestive of 
much that is militant and very little that is 
churchly. 

The interior has been restored, not wholly 
with success, but yet not wholly spoiled. 

In plan and arrangement it is a simple and 
severe church, but acceptable enough when 
one contemplates changes made elsewhere. 
Here are to be seen no debased copies of 
Greek or Roman orders; which is something 
to be thankful for. 

The arches of the nave and choir are strong 
and bold, but not of great spread. The height 
of the nave, part of which has come down 
from the thirteenth century, is ninety feet at 
least. 

There are well-carved capitals to the pillars 
of the nave, and the coloured glass of the 
windows of triforium and clerestory is rich 
without rising to great beauty. 

In general the style is decidedly a melange, 
though the cathedral is entitled to rank as a 
Gothic example. Its length is 350 feet. 



172 



The Cathedrals of Southern Fra7tce 

The maitre-autel is one of the most ele- 
gant in France. 

Modern improvement has cleared away 
much that was picturesque, but around the 
cathedral are still left a few gabled houses, 
which serve to preserve something of the 
mediaeval setting which once held it. 

The courtyard and its dependencies at the 
base of the ^' Deanery Tower " are the chief 
artistic features. They appeal far more 
strongly than any general accessory of the 
cathedral itself, and suggest that they once 
must have been the components of a cloister. 

The see was founded in the fifth century as 
a sufifragan of Lyon. 



173 



Ill 

ST. VINCENT DE MACON 

The Mastieo of the Romans was not the 
Macon of to-day, though, by evolution, or 
corruption, or whatever the process may have 
been, the name has come down to us as refer- 
ring to the same place. The former city did 
not border the river, but was seated on a 
height overlooking the Saone, which flows 
by the doors of the present city of Macon. 

Its site is endowed with most of the attri- 
butes included in the definition of " com- 
manding," and, though not grandly situated, 
is, from any riverside view-point, attractive 
and pleasing. 

When it comes to the polygonal towers of 
its olden cathedral, this charming and pleas- 
ing view changes to that of one which is curi- 
ous and interesting. The cathedral of St. 
Vincent is a battered old ruin, and no amount 
of restoration and rebuilding will ever endow 
it with any more deserving qualities. 

174 




s 



T. VINCENT 

de MACON . 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The Revolution was responsible for its 
having withered away, as it was also for the 
abolishment of the see of Macon. 

The towers stand to-day — lowered some- 
what from their former proportions — gaunt 
and grim, and the rich Burgundian narthen, 
which lay between, has been converted — not 
restored, mark you — into an inferior sort 
of chapel. 

The destruction that fell upon various parts 
of this old church might as well have been 
more sweeping and razed it to the ground 
entirely. The effect could not have been more 
disheartening. 

Macon formerly had twelve churches. 
Now it has three — if we include this poor 
fragment of its one-time cathedral. Between 
the Revolution and the coronation of Napo- 
leon I. the city was possessed of no place of 
worship. 

Macon became an episcopal see, with 
Placide as its first bishop, in the sixth century. 
It was suppressed in 1790. 

The bridge which crosses the river to the 
suburb of St. Laurent is credited as being 
the finest work of its kind crossing the Saone. 
Hamerton has said that '^ its massive arches 
and piers, wedge-shaped to meet the wind, are 

175 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

pleasant to contemplate after numerous fes- 
toons of wire carrying a roadway of planks.'' 
This bridge was formerly surmounted, at 
either end, with a castellated gateway, but, 
like many of these accessories elsewhere, they 
have disappeared. 

The famous bridge at Cahors (shown else- 
where in this book) is the best example of 
such a bridge still existing in France. 

As a " cathedral city," Macon will not take 
a high rank. The '' great man " of Macon 
was Lamartine. His birthplace is shown to 
visitors, but its present appearance does not 
suggest the splendid appointments of its de- 
scription in that worthy's memoirs. 

Macon is the entrepot of the abundant and 
excellent vln du Bourgogne, and the strictly 
popular repute of the city rests entirely on this 
fact. 



176 



IV 

ST. JEAN DE LYON 

The Lyonnais is the name given to that 
region lying somewhat to the westward of the 
city of Lyon. It is divided into three dis- 
tinct parts, le Lyonnais proper, le Forez, and 
le Beau]olais. Its chief appellation comes 
from that of its chief city, which in turn is 
more than vague as to its etymology: Lug- 
duniim we know, of course, and we can trace 
its evolution even unto the Anglicized Lyons, 
but when philologists, antiquarians, and " ped- 
ants of mere pretence " ask us to choose 
between le corbeau — lougon, un eminence — 
dounon, lone — an arm of a river, and dun the 
Celtic word for height, we are amazed, and 
are willing enough to leave the solving of 
the problem to those who will find a greater 
pleasure therein. 

Lyon is a widely-spread city, of magnifi- 
cent proportions and pleasing aspect, situated 
as it is on the banks of two majestic, though 

177 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

characteristically different rivers, the Rhone 
and the Saone. 

In many respects it is an ideally laid-out 
city, and the scene from the heights of Four- 
viere at night, when the city is brilliant with 
many-lighted workshops, is a wonderfully 
near approach to fairy-land. 

Whether the remarkable symmetry of the 
city's streets and plan is the result of the genius 
of a past day, or of the modern progressive 
spirit, is in some doubt. Certainly it must 
originally have been a delightfully planned 
city, and the spirit of modernity — though 
great — has not by any means wholly eradi- 
cated its whilom charm of another day. 

It may be remarked here that about the only 
navigable portion of the none too placid 
Rhone is found from here to Avignon and 
Aries, to which points, in summer at least, 
steam-craft— of sorts — carry passengers with 
expedition and economy — down-stream; the 
journey up-river will amaze one by the po- 
tency of the flood of this torrential stream — 
so different from the slow-going Saone. 

The present diocese, of which the see of 
Lyon is the head, comprehends the Depart- 
ment of the Rhone et Loire. It is known 
under the double vocable of Lyon et Vienne, 

178 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

and is the outgrowth of the more ancient 
ecclesiastical province of Vienne, whose archi- 
episcopal dignity was domiciled in St. Mau- 
rice. 

It was in the second century that St. Pothin, 
an Asiatic Greek, came to the ancient prov- 
ince of Lyon as archbishop. The title car- 
ried with it that of primate of all Gaul : hence 
the importance of the see, from the earliest 
times, may be inferred. 

The architectural remains upon which is 
built the flamboyant Gothic church of St. 
Nizier are supposed to be those of the prim- 
itive cathedral in which St. Pothin and St. 
Irenaeus celebrated the holy rites. The claim 
is made, of course, not without a show of jus- 
tification therefor, but it is a far cry from 
the second century of our era to this late day; 
and the sacristan's words are not convincing, 
in view of the doubts which many non-local 
experts have cast upon the assertion. The 
present Eglise St. Nizier is furthermore dedi- 
cated to a churchman who lived as late as the 
sixth century. 

The present cathedral of St. Jean dates 
from the early years of the twelfth century, 
but there remains to-day another work closely 
allied with episcopal affairs — the stone 

179 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

bridge which spans the Saone, and which was 
built some two hundred years before the pres- 
ent cathedral by Archbishop Humbert. 

Though a bridge across a river is an essen- 
tially practical and utile thing, it is, perhaps, 
in a way, as worthy a work for a generous and 
masterful prelate as church-building itself. 
Certainly this was the case with Humbert's 
bridge, he having designed the structure, 
superintended its erection, and assumed the 
expense thereof. It is recorded that this 
worthy churchman gained many adherents 
for the faith, so it may be assumed that he 
builded as well as he knew. 

St. Jean de Lyon dates from 1180, and pre- 
sents many architectural anomalies in its con- 
structive elements, though the all-pervading 
Gothic is in the ascendant. From this height 
downward, through various interpolations, 
are seen suggestions of many varieties and 
styles of church-building. There is, too, an 
intimation of a motif essentially pagan if one 
attempts to explain the vagaries of some of the 
ornamentation of the unusual septagonal Lom- 
bard choir. This is further inferred when 
it is known that a former temple to Augustus 
stood on the same site. If this be so, the rea- 



180 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

soning is complete, and the classical ornament 
here is of a very early date. 

The fabric of the cathedral is, in the main, 
of a warm-coloured freestone, not unlike dark 
marble, but without its brilliancy and surface. 
It comes from the heights of Fourviere, — on 
whose haunches the cathedral sits, — and by 
virtue of the act of foundation it may be quar- 
ried at any time, free of all cost, for use by 
the Church. 

The situation of this cathedral is most at- 
tractive; indeed its greatest charm may be 
said to be its situation, so very picturesquely 
disposed is it, with the Quai de I'Archeveche 
between it and the river Saone. 

The choir itself — after allowing for the 
interpolation of the early non-Christian frag- 
ments — is the most consistently pleasing por- 
tion. It presents in general a fairly pure, 
early Gothic design. Curiously enough, this 
choir sits below the level of the nave and 
presents, in the interior view, an unusual effect 
of amplitude. 

With the nave of the thirteenth and four- 
teenth centuries, the style becomes more 
mixed — localized, one may say — if only 
consistent details might be traced. At any 
rate, the style grows perceptibly heavier and 

i8i 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

more involved, w^ithout the simplicity of pre- 
Gothic work. Finally, as one comes to the 
heavily capped towers, there is little of grace 
and beauty left. 

In detail, at least, if not in general, St. Jean 
runs quite the whole scale of mediaeval archi- 
tectural style — from the pure Romanesque 
to the definite, if rather mixed, Gothic. 

Of the later elements, the most remarkable 
is the fifteenth-century Bourbon chapel, built 
by Cardinal Charles and his brother Pierre. 
This chapel presents the usual richness and 
luxuriance of its time. If all things are con- 
sidered, it is the chief feature of interest 
within the walls. 

The west front has triple portals, remi- 
niscent, as to dimensions, of Amiens, though 
by no means so grandly peopled with statues; 
the heavy, stunted towers, too, are not unlike 
those of Amiens. These twin towers are of a 
decidedly heavy order, and are not beautiful, 
either as distinct features or as a component 
of the ensemble. Quite in keeping also are 
the chief decorations of the facade, which are 
principally a series of superimposed medal- 
lions, depicting, variously, the signs of the 
zodiac, scenes from the life of St. Jean, and 
yet others suggesting scenes and incidents 

182 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

from Genesis, with an admixture of heraldic 
symbolism which is here quite meaningless 
and singularly inappropriate, while still other 
entablatures present scenes illustrating the 
" Legend of St. Nicholas " and '' The Law 
of Aristotle." 

The general effect of the exterior, the 
fagade in particular, is very dark, and except 
in a bright sunlight — which is usual — is 
indeed gloomy. In all probability, this is 
due to the discolouring of the soft stone of 
which the cathedral is built, as the same effect 
is scarcely to be remarked in the interior. 

In a tower on the south side — much lower, 
and not so clumsily built up as the twin tow- 
ers — hangs one of the greatest bourdons in 
France. It was cast in 1662, and weighs ten 
thousand kilos. 

Another curiosity of a like nature is to be 
seen in the interior, an astronomical clock — 
known to Mr. Tristram as " that great clock 
of Lippius of Basle." Possessed of a crowing 
cock and the usual toy-book attributes, this 
great clock is a source of perennial pride to 
the native and the makers of guide-books. 
Sterne, too, it would appear, waxed unduly 
enthusiastic over this really ingenious thing 
of wheels and cogs. He said: "I never 

183 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

understood the least of mechanism. I declare 
I was never able yet to comprehend the prin- 
ciples of a squirrel-cage or a knife-grinder's 
wheel, yet I will go see this wonderful clock 
the first thing I do." When he did see it, he 
quaintly observed that " it was all out of 
joint." 

The rather crude coloured glass — though 
it is precious glass, for it dates from the thir- 
teenth century, in part — sets off bountifully 
an interior which would otherwise appear 
somewhat austere. 

In the nave is a marble pulpit which has 
been carved with more than usual skill. It 
ranks with that in St. Maurice, at Vienne, as 
one of the most beautiful in France. 

The cathedral possesses two reliques of real 
importance in the crosses which are placed 
to the left and right of the high-altar. These 
are conserved by a unique custom, in memory 
of an attempt made by a concile general of 
the church, held in Lyon in 1274, to reconcile 
the Latin and Greek forms of religion. 

The sacristy, in which the bountiful, though 
not historic, tresor is kept, is in the south tran- 
sept. 

Among the archives of the cathedral there 
are, says a local antiquary, documents of a 

184 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

testamentary nature, which provided the 
means for the up-keep of the fabric without 
expense to the church, until well into the 
eighteenth century. 

On the apex of the height which rises above 
the cathedral is the Basilique de Notre Dame 
de Fourviere — '^ one of those places of pil- 
grimage, the most venerated in all the world," 
says a confident French writer. This may 
be so; it overlooks ground which has long 
been hallowed by the Church, to a far greater 
degree than many other parts, but, like so 
many places of pilgrimage of a modern day, 
its nondescript religious edifice is enough to 
make the church-lover willingly pass it by. 
The site is that of the ancient Forum Vetus 
of the Romans, and as such is more appealing 
to most than as a place of pilgrimage. 



185 



ST. MAURICE DE VIENNE 

" At the feet of seven mountains ; on the banks of a 
large river; an antique city and a cite neuve." 

— Francois Ponsard. 

Though widowed to-day of its bishop's 
throne, Vienne enjoys with Lyon the distinc- 
tion of having its name attached to an epis- 
copal see. The ancient archbishopric ruled 
over what was known as the Province of 
Vienne, which, if not more ancient than that 
of Lyon, dates from the same century — the 
second of our Christian era — and probably 
from a few years anterior, as it is known that 
St. Crescent, the first prelate of the diocese, 
was firmly established here as early as ii8 
A. D. In any event, it was one of the earliest 
centres of Christianity north of the Alps. 

To-day, being merged with the diocese of 
Lyon, Vienne is seldom credited as being 
a cathedral city. Locally the claim is very 

i86 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

strongly made, but the Mediterranean tourist 
never finds this out, unless, perchance, he 
" drops off " from the railway in order to 
make acquaintance with that remarkable 
Roman temple to Augustus, of which he may 
have heard. 

Then he will learn from the habitants that 
by far their greatest respect and pride are for 
their ancienne Cathedrale de St. Maurice, 
which sits boldly upon a terrace dominating 
the course of the river Rhone. 

In many respects St. Maurice de Vienne 
will strike the student and lover of architec- 
ture as being one of the most lively and ap- 
pealing edifices of its kind. The Lombard 
origin of many of its features is without 
question; notably the delightful gallery on 
the north side, with its supporting columns of 
many grotesque shapes. 

Again the parapet and terrace which pre- 
cede this church, the ground-plan, and some 
of the elevations are pure Lombard in motive. 

There are no transepts and no ancient chap- 
els at the eastern termination; the windows 
running down to the pavement. This, how- 
ever, does not make for an appearance at all 
outre — quite the reverse is the case. The 
general effect of the entire internal distribu- 

187 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

tion of parts, with its fine approach from the 
nave to the sanctuary and choir, is exceedingly 
notable. 

Of the remains of the edifice, which was 
erected on the foundations of a still earlier 
church, in 1052 (reconstructed in 15 15), we 
have those of the primitive, but rich, orna- 
mentation of the fagade as the most interest- 
ing and appealing. 

The north doorway, too, indicates in its 
curious bas-reliefs, of the twelfth or thirteenth 
centuries, a luxuriance which in the north — 
in the Romanesque churches at least — came 
only with later centuries. 

There are few accessories of note to be seen 
in the choir or chapels: a painting of St 
Maurice by Desgoffes, a small quantity of 
fourteenth-century glass, the mausoleum of 
Cardinal de Montmorin, a sixteenth-century 
tomb, and, in one of the chapels, some mod- 
ern glass of more than usual brilliance. 

The pulpit is notable, and, with that in St. 
Jean de Lyon, ranks as one of the most elab- 
orate in France. 

For the rest, one's admiration for St. Mau- 
rice de Vienne must rest on the glorious an- 
tiquity of the city, as a centre of civilizing 
and Christianizing influence. 

188 



The Cathedrals of Southern Frajtce 

When Pope Paschal II. (1099 — 11 18) con- 
firmed the metropolitan privileges of Vienne, 
and sent the pallium to its archbishop, he as- 
signed to him as suffragans the bishops of 
Grenoble, Valence, Die, Viviers, Geneva, and 
St. Jean de Maurienne, and conferred upon 
him the honorary office of primate over Mon- 
stiers in Tarentaise. Still later, Calixtus II. 
(11 19 — 24) favoured the archbishopric still 
further by not only confirming the privileges 
which had gone before, but investing the arch- 
bishop with the still higher dignity of the 
office of primate over the seven ecclesiastical 
Provinces of Vienne, Bourges, Bordeaux, 
Auch, Narbonne, Aix, and Embrun. 



189 




VI 



ST. APOLLINAIRE DE VALENCE 



Valence, the Valentia of the Romans, is 
variously supposed to be situated in south- 
eastern France, Provence, and the Cevennes. 
For this reason it will be difficult for the 
traveller to locate his guide-book reference 
thereto. 

It is, however, located in the Rhone valley 
on the very banks of that turgid river, and it 
seems inexplicable that the makers of the red- 
covered couriers do not place it more defi- 
nitely; particularly in that it is historically 
so important a centre. 

190 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The most that can usually be garnered by 
the curious is that it is " well built in parts, 
and that those parts only are of interest to the 
traveller." As a matter of fact, they are noth- 
ing of the sort; and the boulevards, of which 
so much is made, are really very insignificant; 
so, too, are the cafes and restaurants, to which 
far more space is usually given than to the 
claim of Valence as an early centre of Chris- 
tianity. 

Valence is not a great centre of population, 
and is appealing by reason of its charming 
situation, in a sort of amphitheatre, before 
which runs the swift-flowing Rhone. There 
is no great squalor, but there is a picturesque- 
ness and charm which is wholly dispelled in 
the newer quarters, of which the guide-books 
speak. 

There is, moreover, in the cathedral of St. 
ApoUinaire, a small but highly interesting 
" Romanesque- Auvergnian " cathedral; re- 
built and reconsecrated by Urban II., in the 
eleventh century, and again reconstructed, on 
an entirely new plan, in 1604. Besides this 
curious church there is a " Protestant tem- 
ple," which occupies the former chapel of 
the ancient Abbey of St. Rufus, that should 



191 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

have a singularly appealing interest for Eng- 
lish-speaking folk. 

The prefecture occupies another portion of 
the abbey, which in its various disintegrated 
parts is worthy of more than passing consid- 
eration. 

The bishopric was founded here at Valence 
in the fourth century — when Emelien be- 
came the first bishop. The see endures to-day 
as a suffragan of Avignon; whereas formerly 
it owed obedience to Vienne (now Lyon et 
Vienne) . 

The ancient cathedral of St. Apollinaire 
is almost wholly conceived and executed in 
what has come to be known as the Lombard 
style. 

The main body of the church is preceded 
on the west by an extravagant rectangular 
tower, beneath which is the portal or en- 
trance; if, as in the present instance, the com- 
prehensive meaning of the word suggests 
something more splendid than a mere door- 
way. 

There has been remarked before now that 
there is a suggestion of the Corinthian order 
in the columns of both the inside and outside 
of the church. This is a true enough detail of 
Lombard forms as it was of the Roman style, 

192 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

which in turn was borrowed from the Greeks. 
In later times the neo-classical details of the 
late Renaissance period produced quite a dif- 
ferent effect, and were in no way comparable 
to the use of this detail in the Lombard and 
Romanesque churches. 

In St. ApoUinaire, too, are to be remarked 
the unusual arch formed of a rounded trefoil. 
This is found in both the towers, and is also 
seen in St. Maurice at Vienne, but not again 
until the country far to the northward and 
eastward is reached, where they are more fre- 
quent, therefore their use here may be con- 
sidered simply as an interpolation brought 
from some other soil, rather than an original 
conception of the local builder. 

Here also is seen the unusual combination 
of an angular pointed arch in conjunction 
with the round-headed Lombard variety. 
This, in alternation for a considerable space, 
on the south side of the cathedral. It is a 
feature perhaps not worth mentioning, except 
from the fact that both the trefoil and wedge- 
pointed arch are singularly unbeautiful and 
little in keeping with an otherwise purely 
southern structure. 

The aisles of St. Apolllnaire, like those of 
Notre Dame de la Grande at Poitiers, and 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

many other Lombardic churches, are singu- 
larly narrow, which of course appears to 
lengthen them out interminably. 

If any distinctive style can be given this 
small but interesting cathedral, it may well 
be called the style of Lyonnaise. 

It dates from the twelfth century as to its 
foundations, but was rebuilt on practically a 
new ground-plan in 1604. 

To-day it is cruciform after the late elon- 
gated style, with lengthy transepts and lofty 
aisles. 

The chief feature to be observed of its ex- 
terior is its heavy square tower (187 feet) 
of four stories. It is not beautiful, and was 
rebuilt in the middle nineteenth century, but 
it is imposing and groups satisfactorily 
enough with the ensemble round about. Be- 
neath this tower is a fine porch worked in 
Crussol marble. 

There is no triforium or clerestory. In the 
choir is a cenotaph in white marble to Pius 
VI., who was exiled in Valence, and who died 
here in 1799. It is surmounted by a bust by 
Canova, whose work it has become the fashion 
to admire sedulously. 



194 



VII 

CATHEDRALE DE VIVIERS 

The bishopric of Viviers is a suffragan of 
Avignon, and is possessed of a tiny cathe- 
dral church, which, in spite of its diminu- 
tive proportions, overtops quite all the other 
buildings of this ancient capital of the Viva- 
rais. 

The city is a most picturesque setting for 
any shrine, with the narrow, tortuous streets 
— though slummy ones — winding to the 
clifif-top on which the city sits high above 
the waters of the Rhone. 

The choir of this cathedral is the only por- 
tion which warrants remark. It is of the four- 
teenth century, and has no aisles. It is in the 
accepted Gothic style, but this again is coerced 
by the Romanesque flanking tower, which, to 
all intents and purposes, when viewed from 
afar, might well be taken for a later Renais- 
sance work. 

A nearer view dissects this tower into really 

I9S 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

beautiful parts. The base is square, but above 
— in an addition of the fifteenth century — 
it blooms forth into an octagon of quite orig- 
inal proportions. 

In the choir are some Gobelin tapestries 
and paintings by Mignard; otherwise there 
are no artistic attributes to be remarked. 



196 



VIII 

NOTRE DAME D'ORANGE 

The independent principality of Orange 
(which had existed since the eleventh cen- 
tury), with the papal State of Avignon, the 
tiny Comte Venaissin, and a small part of 
Provence were welded into the Department of 
Vaucluse in the redistribution of political di- 
visions under Napoleon I. The house of 
Nassau retains to-day the honorary title of 
Princes of Orange, borne by the heir apparent 
to the throne of Holland. More anciently 
the city was known as the Roman Arausio, 
and is yet famous for its remarkable Roman 
remains, the chief of which are its triumphal 
arch and theatre — one of the largest and 
most magnificent, if not actually the largest, 
of its era. 

The history of the church at Orange is far 
more interesting and notable than that of its 
rather lame apology for a cathedral of rank. 
The see succumbed in 1790 in favour of 

197 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Avignon, an archbishopric, and Valence, one 
of its suffragans. 

The persecution and oppression of the 
Protestants of Orange and Dauphine are well- 
recorded facts of history. 

A supposedly liberal and tolerant maker of 
guide-books (in English) has given inhab- 
itants of Orange a hard reputation by class- 
ing them as a ^' ferocious people." This 
rather unfair method of estimating their lat- 
ter-day characteristics is based upon the fact 
that over three hundred perished here by the 
guillotine during the first three months of the 
Revolution. It were better had he told us 
something of the architectural treasures of this 
vllle de Fart celebre. He does mention the 
chief, also that '' the town has many mosqui- 
toes," but, as for churches, he says not a word. 

The first bishop was St. Luce, who was 
settled here in the fourth century, at the same 
time that St. Ruff came to Avignon. 

As a bishopric, Orange was under the con- 
trol of St. Trophime's successors at Aries. 

Notre Dame d'Orange is a work of little 
architectural pretence, though its antiquity 
is great as to certain portions of its walls. 
The oldest portion dates from 1085, though 
there is little to distinguish it from the more 

198 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

modern additions and reparations, and is in 
no way suggestive of the splendour with 
which the ancient Roman theatre and arch 
were endowed. 

The chief attribute to be remarked is the 
extreme width of nave, which dates from 
1085 to 1 1 26. The cathedral itself, however, 
is not an architectural example of any appeal- 
ing interest whatever, and pales utterly before 
the magnificent and splendid preservations of 
secular Roman times. 

Since, however. Orange is a city reminis- 
cent of so early a period of Christianity as 
the fourth century, it is to be presumed that 
other Christian edifices of note may have at 
one time existed : if so, no very vivid history 
of them appears to have been left behind, and 
certainly no such tangible expressions of the 
art of church-building as are seen in the 
neighbouring cities of the Rhone valley. 



199 




IX 



^-^ 



ST. VERAN DE CAVAILLON 



" It is the plain of Cavaillon which is the 
market-garden of Avignon; from whence 
come the panniers of vegetables and fruits, the 
buissons d'artichauts, and the melons of ^ high 
reputation.' " 

Such is the rather free paraphrase of a most 
charmingly expressed observation on this 
Provengal land of plenty, written by an eight- 
eenth-century Frenchman. 

If it was true in those days, it is no less true 
to-day, and, though this book is more con- 
cerned with churches than with potagerie, 

200 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the observation is made that this fact may have 
had not a little to do with the early foundation 
of the church, here in a plenteous region, 
w^here it w^as more likely to prosper than in 
an impoverished land. 

The bishopric was founded in the fifth cen- 
tury by St. Genialis, and it endured constantly 
until the suppression in 1790. 

All interest in Cavaillon, in spite of its 
other not inconsiderable claims, will be cen- 
tred around its ancient cathedral of St. Veran, 
immediately one comes into contact therewith. 

The present structure is built upon a very 
ancient foundation; some have said that the 
primitive church was of the seventh century. 
This present cathedral was consecrated by 
Pope Innocent IV. in person, in 1259, and for 
that reason possesses a considerable interest 
which it would otherwise lack. 

Externally the most remarkable feature is 
the arrangement and decoration of the apside 
— there is hardly enough of it to come within 
the classification of the chevet. Here the 
quintuple flanks, or sustaining walls, are 
framed each with a pair of columns, of grace- 
ful enough proportions in themselves, but 
possessed of inordinately heavy capitals. 

An octagonal cupola, an unusual, and in 

201 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

this case a not very beautiful feature, crowns 
the centre of the nave. In reality it serves 
the purpose of a lantern, and allows a dubious 
light to trickle through into the interior, 
which is singularly gloomy. 

To the right of the nave is a curiously 
attenuated clocher, which bears a clock-face 
of minute proportions, and holds a clanging 
bourdon, which, judging from its voice, must 
be as proportionately large as the clock-face 
is small. 

Beneath this tower is a doorway leading 
from the nave to the cloister, a beautiful work 
dating from a much earlier period than the 
church itself. 

This cloister is not unlike that of St. Tro- 
phime at Aries, and, while plain and simple 
in its general plan of rounded arches and 
vaulting, is beautifully worked in stone, and 
admirably preserved. In spite of its sever- 
ity, there is no suggestion of crudity, and there 
is an elegance and richness in its sculptured 
columns and capitals which is unusual in 
ecclesiastical work of the time. 

The interior of this church is quite as in- 
teresting as the exterior. There is an ample, 
though aisleless, nave, which, though singu- 
larly dark and gloomy, suggests a vastness 

202 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

which, is perhaps really not justified by the 
actual state of affairs. 

A very curious arrangement is that the 
supporting wall-pillars — in this case a sort 
of buttress, like those of the apside — 
serve to frame or enclose a series of deep- 
vaulted side chapels. The effect of this is 
that all of the flow of light, which might 
enter by the lower range of windows, is prac- 
tically cut off from the nave. What reful- 
gence there is — and it is not by any means 
of the dazzling variety — comes in through 
the before-mentioned octagon and the upper 
windows of the nave. 

In a chapel — the gift of Philippe de Ca- 
bassole, a friend of Petrarch's — is a funeral 
monument which will even more forcibly re- 
call the name and association of the poet. It 
is a seventeenth-century tomb of Bishop Jean 
de Sade, a descendant of the famous Laura, 
whose ashes formerly lay in the Eglise des 
Cordeliers at Avignon, but which were, it is 
to be feared, scattered to the winds by the 
Revolutionary fury. 

At the summit of Mont St. Jacques, which 
rises high above the town, is the ancient Ermi- 
tage de St. Veran; a place of local pilgrim- 
age, but not otherwise greatly celebrated. 

203 



X 

NOTRE DAME DES DOMS D'AVIGNON 

It would be difficult to say with precision 
whether Avignon were more closely con- 
nected in the average mind with the former 
papal splendour, with Petrarch and his 
Laura, or with the famous Felibrage. 

Avignon literally reeks with sentimental 
associations of a most healthy kind. No prob- 
able line of thought suggested by Avignon's 
historied and romantic past will intimate even 
the hiawkish, the sordid, or the banal. It is, 
in almost limitless suggestion, the city of 
France above all others in which to linger 
and drink in the life of its past and present 
to one's fullest capacities. 

For the " literary pilgrim," first and fore- 
most will be Avignon's association with Pe- 
trarch, or rather he with it. For this reason 
it shall be disposed of immediately, though 
not in one word, or ten ; that would be impos- 
sible. 

204 



k- %' 










The Cathedrals of Southern France 

" ^ The grave of Laura! ' said I. ^ Indeed, 
my dear sir, I am obliged to you for having 
mentioned it,' " were the words with which 
the local bookseller was addressed by an eight- 
eenth-century traveller. " ^ Otherwise one 
might have gone away, to their everlasting 
sorrow and shame, without having seen this 
curiosity of your city.' " 

The same record of travel describes the 
guardian of this shrine as ^' a converted Jew, 
who, from one year's end to another, has but 
two duties to perform, which he most punctu- 
ally attends to. The one to take care of the 
grave of Laura, and to show it to strangers, 
the other to give them information respecting 
all the curiosities. Before his conversion, he 
stood at the corner by the Hotel de Ville offer- 
ing lottery tickets to passers-by, and asking, 
till he was hoarse, if they had anything to 
sell. Not a soul took the least notice of him. 
His beard proved a detriment in all his spec- 
ulations. Now that he has become a Chris- 
tian, it is wonderful how everything thrives 
with him." 

At the very end of the Rue des Lices will 
be found the last remains of the figlise des 
Cordeliers — reduced at the Revolution to a 
mere tower and its walls. Here may be seen 

207 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the spot where was the tomb of Laura de 
Sade. Arthur Young, writing just before the 
Revolution, described it as below; though 
since that time still other changes have taken 
place, with the result that '' Laura's Grave " 
is little more than a memory to-day, and a 
vague one at that. 

" The grave is nothing but a stone in the 
pavement, with a figure engraved on it al- 
ready partly effaced, surrounded by an in- 
scription in Gothic letters, and another on the 
wall adjoining, with the armorial bearings of 
the De Sade family." 

To-day nothing but the site — the location 
— of the tomb is still there, the before-men- 
tioned details having entirely disappeared. 
The vault was apparently broken open at the 
Revolution, and its ashes scattered. It was 
here at Avignon, in the Eglise de St. Claire, 
as Petrarch himself has recorded, that he first 
met Laura de Sade. 

The present mood is an appropriate one 
in which to continue the Petrarchian pil- 
grimage countryward — to the famous Vau- 
cluse. Here Petrarch came as a boy, in 13 13, 
and, if one chooses, he may have his dejeuner 
at the Hotel Petrarque et Laure; not the 
same, of course, of which Petrarch wrote in 

2q8 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

praise of its fish of Sorgues; but you will 
have them as a course at lunch nevertheless. 
Here, too, the famed Fontaine first comes to 
light and air; and above it hangs '' Petrarch's 
Castle," which is not Petrarch's castle, nor 
ever was. It belonged originally to the bish- 
ops of Cavaillon, but it is possible that Pe- 
trarch was a guest there at various times, as 
we know he was at the more magnificent 
Palais des Papes at Avignon. 

This chateau of the bishops hangs peril- 
ously on a brow which rises high above the 
torrential Fontaine, and, if sentiment will not 
allow of its being otherwise ignored, it is per- 
missible to visit it, if one is so inclined. No 
special hardship is involved, and no great 
adventure is likely to result from this journey 
countryward. Tourists have been known to 
do the thing before " just to get a few snap- 
shots of the fountain." 

As to why the palace of the popes came 
into being at Avignon is a question which sug- 
gests the possibilities of the making of a big 
book. 

The popes came to Avignon at the time of 
the Italian partition, on the strength of having 
acquired a grant of the city from Joanna of 
Naples, for which they were supposed to give 

209 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

eighty thousand golden crowns. They never 
paid the bill, however; from which fact it 
would appear that financial juggling was born 
at a much earlier period than has hitherto 
been supposed. 

Seven popes reigned here, from 1305 to 
1370; when, on the termination of the Schism, 
it became the residence of a papal legate. 
Subsequently Louis XIV. seized the city, in 
revenge for an alleged affront to his ambas- 
sador, and Louis XV. also held it for ten 
years. 

The curious fact is here recalled that, by the 
treaty of Tolentino (12th February, 1797), 
the papal power at Rome conceded formally 
for the first time — to Napoleon I. — their 
ancient territory of Avignon. On the terms 
of this treaty alone was Pope Pius allowed 
to remain nominal master of even shreds of 
the patrimony of St. Peter. 

The significant events of Avignon's history 
are too great in purport and number to be 
even catalogued here, but the magnificent 
papal residence, from its very magnitude and 
luxuriance, compels attention as one of the 
great architectural glories, not only of France, 
but of all Europe as well. 

Here sat, for the major portion of the four- 

210 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

teenth century, the papal court of Avignon; 
which the uncharitable have called a synonym 
for profligacy, veniality, and luxurious de- 
generacy. Here, of course, were held the 
conclaves by which the popes of that century 
were elected; significantly tliey were all 
Frenchmen, which would seem to point to 
the fact of corruption of some sort, if noth- 
ing more. 

Rienzi, the last of the tribunes, was a pris- 
oner within the walls of this great papal 
stronghold, and Simone Memmi of Sienna 
was brought therefrom to decorate the walls 
of the popes' private chapel; Petrarch was 
persona grata here, and many other notables 
were frequenters of its hospitality. 

The palace walls rise to a height of nearly 
ninety feet, and its battlemented towers add 
another fifty; from which one may infer that 
its stability was great; an effect which is still 
further sustained when the great thickness of 
its sustaining walls is remarked, and the in- 
frequent piercings of windows and doorways. 

This vast edifice was commenced by Pope 
Clement V. in the early years of the thirteenth 
century, but nothing more than the founda- 
tions of his work were left, when Benedict 
XIL, thirty years later, gave the work into 

211 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the hands of Peter Obreri — who must have 
been the VioUet-le-Duc of his time. 

Revolution's destroying power played its 
part here, as generally throughout France, 
in defacing shrines, monuments, and edifices, 
civil and ecclesiastical, with little regard for 
sentiment and absolutely none for reason. 

The mob attacked the papal palace with 
results more disastrous than the accumulated 
debasement of preceding centuries. The later 
regime, which turned the magnificent halls of 
this fortress-like palace into a mere barracks 
— as it is to-day — was quite as iconoclastic 
in its temperament. 

One may realize here, to the full, just how 
far a great and noble achievement of the art 
and devotion of a past age may sink. The 
ancient papal palace at Avignon — the 
former seat of the power of the Roman Cath- 
olic religion — has become a mere barracks! 
To contemplate it is more sad even than to 
see a great church turned into a stable or an 
abattoir — as can yet be seen in France. 

In its plan this magnificent building pre- 
serves its outlines, but its splendour of embel- 
lishment has very nearly been eradicated, as 
may be observed if one will crave entrance of 
the military incumbent. 

212 



The Cathedrals of Soztthern France 

In 1376 Pope Gregory XL left Avignon 
for Rome, — after him came the two anti- 
popes, — and thus ended what Petrarch has 
called ^^ UEmpia Babilonia/' 

The cathedral of Notre Dame des Doms 
pales perceptibly before the splendid dimen- 
sions of the papal palace, which formerly 
encompassed a church of its own of much 
more artistic worth. 

In one respect only does the cathedral lend 
a desirable note to the ensemble. This, by 
reason of its commanding situation — at the 
apex of the Rocher des Doms — and by the 
gilded statue of the Virgin which surmounts 
the tower, and supplies just the right quality 
of colour and life to a structure which would 
be otherwise far from brilliant. 

From the opposite bank of the Rhone — 
from Villeneuve-les-Avignon — the view of 
the parent city, the papal residence, the ca- 
thedral, and that unusual southern attribute, 
the beffroi, all combine in a most glorious pic- 
ture of a superb beauty; quite rivalling — 
though in a far different manner — that 
" plague spot of immorality," — Monte Carlo, 
which is mostly thought to hold the palm for 
the sheer beauty of natural situation. 

The cathedral is chiefly of the twelfth cen- 

213 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

tury, though even a near-by exterior view does 
not suggest any of the Gothic tendencies of 
that era. It is more like the heavy bungling 
style which came in with the Renaissance; 
but it is not that either, hence it must be 
classed as a unique variety, though of the 
period when the transition from the Roman- 
esque to Gothic was making inroads else- 
where. 

It has been said that the structure dates in 
part from the time of Charlemagne, but, if 
so, the usual splendid appointments of the 
true Charlemagnian manner are sadly lack- 
ing. There may be constructive foundations 
of the eleventh century, but they are in no 
way distinctive, and certainly lend no liveli- 
ness to a building which must ever be ranked 
as unworthy of the splendid environment. 

As a church of cathedral rank, it is a tiny 
edifice when compared with the glorious 
northern ground-plans : it is not much more 
than two hundred feet in length, and has a 
width which must be considerably less than 
fifty feet. 

The entrance, at the top of a long, winding 
stair which rises from the street-level of the 
Place du Palais to the platform of the rock, 
is essentially pagan in its aspect; indeed it is 

214 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

said to have previously formed the portal of 
a pagan temple which at one time stood upon 
the site. If this be so, this great doorway 
— for it is far larger in its proportions than 
any other detail — is the most ancient of all 
the interior or exterior features. 

The high pediment and roof may be 
pointed Gothic, or it may not; at any rate, 
it is in but the very rudimentary stage. Au- 
thorities do not agree; which carries the sug- 
gestion still further that the cathedral at 
Avignon is of itself a queer, hybrid thing in 
its style, and with not a tithe of the interest 
possessed by its more magnificent neighbour. 

The western tower, while not of great pro- 
portions, is rather more massive than the pro- 
portions of the church body can well carry. 
What decoration it possesses carries the pagan 
suggestion still further, with its superim- 
posed fluted pillars and Corinthian columns. 

The gloomy interior is depressing in the 
extreme, and whatever attributes of interest 
that it has are largely discounted by their un- 
attractive setting. 

There are a number of old paintings, 
which, though they are not the work of artists 
of fame, might possibly prove to be of cred- 
itable workmanship, could one but see them 

215 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

through the gloom. In the before-mentioned 
porch are some frescoes by Simone Memmi, 
executed by him in the fourteenth century, 
when he came from Sienna to do the decora- 
tions in the palace. 

The side chapels are all of the fourteenth 
century; that of St. Joseph, now forming the 
antechamber of the sacristy, contains a note- 
worthy Gothic tomb and monument of Pope 
John XXII. It is much mutilated to-day, 
and is only interesting because of the person- 
ality connected therewith. The custodian or 
caretaker is in this case a most persistently 
voluble person, who will give the visitor little 
peace unless he stands by and hears her story 
through, or flees the place, — which is prefer- 
able. 

The niches of this highly florid Gothic 
tomb were despoiled of their statues at the 
Revolution, and the recumbent effigy of the 
Pope has been greatly disfigured. A much 
simpler monument, and one quite as interest- 
ing, to another Pope, Benedict XIL, — he 
who was responsible for the magnificence 
of the papal palace, — is in a chapel in the 
north aisle of the nave, but the cicerone has 
apparently no pride in this particular shrine. 

An ancient (pagan?) altar is preserved in 

216 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the nave. It is not beautiful, but it is un- 
doubtedly very ancient and likewise very 
curious. 

The chief accessory of interest for all will 
doubtless prove to be the twelfth-century 
papal throne. It is of a pure white marble, 
rather cold to contemplate, but livened here 
and there with superimposed gold ornament. 
What decoration there is, chiefly figures rep- 
resenting the bull of St. Luke and the lion of 
St. Mark, is simple and severe, as befitted 
papal dignity. To-day it serves the arch- 
bishop of the diocese as his throne of dignity, 
and must inspire that worthy with ambitious 
hopes. 

The chapter of the cathedral at Avignon 
— as we learn from history — wears purple, 
in company with cardinals and kings, at all 
celebrations of the High Mass of Clara de 
Falkenstein. From a well-worn vellum 
quarto in the library at Avignon one may read 
the legend which recounts the connection of 
Ste. Clara de Mont Falcone with the mystery 
of the Holy Trinity; from which circum- 
stance the honour and dignity of the purple 
has been granted to the prelates of the cathe- 
dral. 

No mention of Avignon, or of Aries, or of 

217 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Nimes could well be made without a refer- 
ence to the revival of Provengal literature 
brought about by the famous '' Felibrage," 
that brotherhood founded by seven poets, of 
whom Frederic Mistral is the most popu- 
larly known. 

The subject is too vast, and too vastly inter- 
esting to be slighted here, so perforce mere 
mention must suffice. 

The word Felibre was suggested by Mis- 
tral, who found it in an old hymn. Its ety- 
mology is uncertain, but possibly it is from 
the Greek, meaning " a lover of the beauti- 
ful." 

The original number of the Felibres was 
seven, and they first met on the fete-day of 
Ste. Estelle; in whose honour they adopted 
the seven-pointed star as their emblem. Sig- 
nificantly, the number seven has much to do 
with the Felibres and Avignon alike. The 
enthusiastic Felibre tells of Avignon's seven 
churches, its seven gates, seven colleges, seven 
hospitals, and seven popes — who reigned at 
Avignon for seven decades; and further that 
the word Felibre has seven letters, as, also, has 
the name of Mistral, one of its seven founders 
— who took seven years in writing his epics. 

The machicolated walls, towers, and gate- 

218 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ways of Avignon, which protected the city 
in mediaeval times, and — history tells us — 
sheltered twice as many souls as now, are in 
a remarkable state of preservation and com- 
pleteness, and rank foremost among the mas- 
terworks of fortification of their time. This 
outer wall, or enceinte, was built at the in- 
stigation of Clement VL, in 1349, and was 
the work of but fourteen years. 

A hideously decorated building opposite 
the papal palace — now the Conservatoire de 
Musique — was formerly the papal mint. 

The ruined bridge of St. Benezet, built in 
the twelfth century, is a remarkable example 
of the engineering skill of the time. Sur- 
mounting the four remaining arches — still 
perfect as to their configuration — is a tiny 
chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas, which for- 
merly contained reliques of St. Benezet. 

The extraordinary circumstance which led 
up to the building of this bridge seems legend- 
ary, to say the least. 

It is recorded that St. Benezet, its founder, 
who was a mere shepherd, became inspired 
by God to undertake this great work. The 
inspiration must likewise have brought with 
it not a little of the uncommon skill of the 
bridge-builder, and, considering the extent 

219 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

and scope of the projected work, something 
of the spirit of benefaction as well. 

The foundation was laid in 1171, and it 
was completed, after seventeen years of la- 
bour, in 1 188. 

On this bridge, near the entrance to the 
city, was erected a hospital of religious per- 
sons, who were denominated hes Freres du 
Pont, their offices being to preserve the fabric, 
and to afford succour to all manner of trav- 
ellers. 

The boldness and utility of this undertak- 
ing, — it being the only means of communi- 
cation between Avignon and the French terri- 
tory beyond the Rhone, — as well as the per- 
manency assured to it by the annexing of a 
religious foundation, cannot fail to grant to 
the memory of its holy founder something 
more than a due share of veneration on behalf 
of his genius and perspicacity. 



220 



XI 

ST. SIFFREIN DE CARPENTRAS 

The tiny city of Carpentras, most pictur- 
esquely situated on the equally diminutive 
river Aijzon which enters the Rhone between 
Orange and Avignon, was a Roman colony 
under Augustus, and a bishopric under St. 
Valentin in the third century. 

A sufifragan of Avignon, the papal city, 
the see was suppressed in 1790. 

The Bishops of Carpentras, it would ap- 
pear, were a romantic and luxury-loving line 
of prelates, though this perhaps is aught 
against their more devout virtues. 

They had a magnificent palace overhang- 
ing the famous ^' Fountain of Vaucluse," and 
repaired thither in mediaeval times for the 
relaxation which they evidently much appre- 
ciated. They must have been veritable pa- 
trons of literature and the arts, as Petrarch 
and his fellows-in-art were frequently of their 
household. 

221 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

The ancient cathedral of St. Siffrein is ded- 
icated to a former bishop of Carpentras, who 
died in the sixth century. 

As this church now stands, its stones are 
mainly of the early sixteenth century. The 
west fagade is entirely without character, and 
is pierced at the pavement with a gross cen- 
tral doorway flanked by tvs^o others; poor 
copies of the Greco-Romain style, which, in 
many of its original forms, was certainly 
more pleasing than here. Each of these 
smaller doorways have for their jambs two 
beautifully toned columns of red jasper, from 
a baptistere of which there are still extensive 
remains at Venasque near by. 

This baptistere, by the way, and its neigh- 
bouring Romanesque and Gothic church, is 
quite worth the energy of making the journey 
countryward, eleven kilometres from Carpen- 
tras, to see. 

It is nominally of the tenth century, but 
is built up from fragments of a former Tem- 
ple to Venus, and its situation amid the rocks 
and tree-clad hilltops of the Nesque valley is 
most agreeable. 

The portal on the south side — though, for 
a fact, it hardly merits the dignity of such a 
classification — is most ornately sculptured. 

Ill 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

A figure of the Virgin, in the doorway, is 
locally known as Notre Dame des Neiges. 

Much iconographic symbolism is to be 
found in this doorway, capable of various 
plausible explanations which shall not be at- 
tempted here. 

It must suffice to say that nowhere in this 
neighbourhood, indeed possibly not south of 
the Loire, is so varied and elaborate a collec- 
tion of symbolical stone-carving to be seen. 

There is no regularly completed tower to 
St. Siffrein, but a still unachieved tenth-cen- 
tury clocher in embryo attaches itself on the 
south. 

The interior presents the general effect of 
Gothic, and, though of late construction, is 
rather of the primitive order. 

There are no aisles, but one single nave, 
very wide and very high, while the apse is 
very narrow, with lateral chapels. 

Against the western wall are placed four 
paintings; not worthy of remark, perhaps, 
except for their great size. They are of the 
seventeenth or eighteenth century. A private 
corridor, or gallery, leads from this end of 
the church to the episcopal palace, presuma- 
bly for the sole use of the bishops and their 
guests. The third chapel on the right is pro- 

223 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

fusely decorated and contains a valuable 
painting by Dominique de Carton. Another 
contains a statue of the Virgin, of the time 
of Louis XIV., and is very beautiful. 

A tomb of Bishop Laurent Buti (d. 1710) 
is set against the wall, where the apse adjoins 
the nave. 

Rearward on the high-altar is a fine paint- 
ing by an unknown artist of the Italian school. 

The old-time cathedral of St. Sififrein was 
plainly not of the poverty-stricken class, as 
evinced by the various accessories and details 
of ornamentation mentioned above. It had, 
moreover, in conjunction with it, a most mag- 
nificent and truly palatial episcopal residence, 
built by a former cardinal-bishop, Alexandri 
Bichi, in 1640. To-day it serves the func- 
tions of the Palais de Justice and a prison; 
in the latter instance certainly a fall from its 
hitherto high estate. Built about by this an- 
cient residence of the prelates of the Church 
is also yet to be seen, in much if not quite all 
of its pristine glory, a Gallo-Romain arc de 
Triomphe of considerable proportions and 
much beauty of outline and ornament. 

As to period. Prosper Merimee, to whom 
the preservation of the ancient monuments of 
France is largely due, has said that it is con- 

224 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

temporary with its compeer at Orange (first 
or second century). 

The Porte d'Orange, in the Grande Rue, 
is the only relique left at Carpentras of the 
ancient city ramparts built in the fourteenth 
century by Pope Innocent VI. 



225 



XII 

CATHEDRALE DE VAISON 

The Provengal town of Vaison, like Car- 
pentras ^nd Cavaillon, is really of the basin 
of the Rhone, rather than of the region of 
the snow-crowned Alps which form its back- 
ground. It is of little interest to-day as a 
cathedral city, though the see dates from a 
foundation of the fourth century, by St. 
Aubin, until the suppression of 1790. 

Its former cathedral is hardly the equal 
of many others which have supported epis- 
copal dignity, but it has a few accessories and 
attributes which make it notable. 

Its nave is finely vaulted, and there is an 
eleventh-century cloister, which flanks the 
main body of the church on the left, which 
would be remarked under any circumstances. 

The cloister, though practically a ruin, — 
but a well preserved one, — shows In its con- 
struction many beautiful Gallo-Romain and 
early Gothic columns which are exceedingly 
beautiful in their proportions. In this clois- 

226 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ter, also, are some fragments of early 
Christian tombs, which will offer unlimited 
suggestion to the archaeologist, but which to 
the lover of art and architecture are quite 
unappealing. 

The Eglise St. Quinin is a conglomerate 
edifice which has been built up, in part, from 
a former church which stood on the same site 
in the seventh century. It is by no means 
a great architectural achievement as it stands 
to-day, but is highly interesting because of 
its antiquity. In the cathedral the chief 
article of real artistic value is a benitier, made 
from the capital of a luxurious Corinthian 
column. One has seen sun-dials and drink- 
ing-fountains made from pedestals and sar- 
cophagi before — and the eflect has not been 
pleasing, and smacks not only of vandalism, 
but of a debased ideal of art, but this column- 
top, which has been transformed into a 
benitier, cannot be despised. 

The bete-noir of all this region, and of 
Vaison in particular, — if one is to believe 
local sentiment, — is the high sweeping wind, 
which at certain seasons blows in a tempes- 
tuous manner. The habitant used to say that 
^^ le mistral, le Parlement, et Durance sont les 
trois fleaux de Provence/' 

ii'-j 




XIII 

ST. TROPHIME D'ARLES 

" In all the world that which interests me most is 
La Fleur des ' Glais ^ ... It is a fine plant. ... It is 
the same as the Fleurs des Lis d*Or of the arms of France 
and of Provence." ■ — Frederic Mistral. 



Two French writers of repute have re- 
cently expressed their admiration of the mar- 
vellous country, and the contiguous cities, 
lying about the mouth of the Rhone; among 
which are Nimes, Aigues-Mortes, and — of 
far greater interest and charm — Aries. Their 
opinions, perhaps, do not differ very greatly 
from those of most travellers, but both 

228 






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tV V 



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-'^s^^''¥ir' 

















CAD 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Madame Duclaux, in " The Fields of 
France," and Rene Bazin, in his Recits de 
la Plaine et de la Montague, give no palm, 
one to the other, with respect to their feeling 
for ^' the mysterious charm of Aries." 

It is significant that in this region, from 
Vienne on the north to Aries and Nimes in 
the south, are found such a remarkable series 
of Roman remains as to warrant the statement 
by a French antiquarian that " in Rome 
itself are no such temples as at Vienne and 
Nimes, no theatres so splendidly preserved 
as that at Orange, — nor so large as that of 
Aries, — and that the magnificent ruined 
Colosseum on the Tiber in no wise has the 
perfections of its compeer at Nimes, nor has 
any triumphal arch the splendid decorations 
of that at Reims in the champagne country." 

With these facts in view it is well to recall 
that many non-Christian influences asserted 
themselves from time to time, and overshad- 
owed for a temporary period those which 
were more closely identified with the growth 
of the Church. The Commission des Monu- 
ments Historiques catalogue sixteen notable 
monuments in Aries which are cared for by 
them: the Amphitheatre, the remains of the 
Forum, — now built into the f agade of the 

229 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Hotel du Nord, — the remains of the Palais 
de Constantin, the Abbey of Montmajour, and 
the one-time cathedral of St. Trophime, and 
its cloister — to particularize but a few. 

To-day, as anciently, the ecclesiastical 
province is known as that of Aix, Aries, and 
Embrun. Aries, however, for a time took its 
place as an archbishopric, though to-day it 
joins hands again with Aix and Embrun; 
thus, while enjoying the distinction of being 
ranked as an archbishopric, its episcopal resi- 
dence is at Aix. 

It was at Aries that the first, and only, 
English pope — Adrian Breakspeare — first 
entered a monastic community, after having 
been refused admission to the great establish- 
ment at St. Albans in Hertfordshire, his 
native place. Here, by the utmost diligence, 
he acquired the foundation of that great 
learning which resulted in his being so sud- 
denly proclaimed the wearer of the tiara, 
in 1 1 54. 

St. Trophime came to Aries in the first 
century, and became the first bishop of the 
diocese. The first church edifice on this site 
was consecrated in 606 by St. Virgil, under 
the vocable of St. Etienne. In 1152 the 
present church was built over the remains of 

230 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

St. Trophime, which were brought thither 
from St. Honorat des Alyscamps. So far as 
the main body of the church is concerned, 
it was completed by the end of the twelfth 
century, and only in its interior is shown the 
development of the early ogival style. 

The structure was added to in 1430, when 
the Gothic choir was extended eastward. 

The aisles are diminutively narrow, and 
the window piercings throughout are exceed- 
ingly small; all of which makes for a lack 
of brilliancy and gloom, which may be 
likened to the average crypt. The only ra- 
diance which ever penetrates this gloomy 
interior comes at high noon, when the reful- 
gence of a Mediterranean sun glances through 
a series of long lancets, and casts those purple 
shadows which artists love. Then, and then 
only, does the cathedral of St. Trophime offer 
any inducement to linger within its non-im- 
pressive walls. 

The exterior view is, too, dull and gloomy 
— what there is of it to be seen from the Place 
Royale. By far the most lively view is that 
obtained from across the ruins of the mag- 
nificent Roman theatre just at the rear. Here 
the time-resisting qualities of secular Roman 
buildings combine with the cathedral to pre- 

231 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

sent a bright, sunny, and appealing picture 
indeed. 

St. Trophime is in no sense an unworthy 
architectural expression. As a Provengal 
type of the Romanesque, — which it is mostly, 
— it must be judged as quite apart from the 
Gothic which has crept in to but a slight 
extent. 

The western portal is very beautiful, and, 
with cloister, as interesting and elaborate as 
one could wish. 

It is the generality of an unimposing plan, 
a none too graceful tower and its uninteresting 
interior, that qualifies the richnessi of its more 
luxurious details. 

The portal of the west fagade greatly re- 
sembles another at St. Gilles, near by. It is a 
profusely ornamented doorway with richly 
foliaged stone carving and elaborate has- 
reliefs. 

The tympanum of the doorway contains 
the figure of a bishop in sacerdotal costume, 
doubtless St. Trophime, flanked by winged 
angels and lions. The sculptures here date 
perhaps from the period contemporary with 
the best work at Paris and Chartres, — well 
on into the Middle Ages, — when sculpture 
had not developed or perfected its style, but 

232 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

was rather a bad copy of the antique. This 
will be notably apparent when the stiffness 
and crudeness of the proportions of the figures 
are taken into consideration. 

The wonderful cloister of St. Trophime 
is, on the east side, of Romanesque workman- 




Cloisters^ St. Trophime d'' Aries 

ship, with barrel vaulting, and dates from 
1 1 20. On the west it is of the transition style 
of a century later, while on the north the 
vaulting springs boldly into the Gothic of 
that period — well on toward 1400. 

The capitals of the pillars of this cloistered 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

courtyard are most diverse, and picture in 
delicately carved stone such scenes of Bible 
history and legend as the unbelief of St. 
Thomas, Ste. Marthe and the Tarasque, etc. 
It is a curious melange of the vagaries of the 
stone carver of the Middle Ages, — these 
curiously and elaborately carved capitals, — 
but on the whole the ensemble is one of rare 
beauty, in spite of non-Christian and pagan 
accessories. These show at least how far 
superior the classical work of that time was 
to the later Renaissance. 

The cemetery of Aries, locally known as 
Les Alyscamps, literally teems with mediaeval 
and ancient funeral monuments; though 
many, of course, have been removed, and 
many have suffered the ravages of time, to 
say nothing of the Revolutionary period. 
One portion was the old pagan burial-ground, 
and another — marked off with crosses — 
was reserved for Christian burial. 

It must have been accounted most holy 
ground, as the dead were brought thither for 
burial from many distant cities. 

Dante mentions it in the " Inferno," 
Canto IX.: 

" Just as at Aries where the Rhone is stagnant 
The sepulchres make all the ground unequal." 

234 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Ariosto, in '' Orlando Furioso," remarks it 
thus: 

" Many sepulchres are in this land." 

St. Remy, a few leagues to the northeast 
of Aries, is described by all writers as won- 
derfully impressive and appealing to all who 
come w^ithin its spell; — though the guide- 
books all say that it is a place without im- 
portance. 

Rene Bazin has this to say: "St. Remy, 
ce nest pas beau, ce St. Remy.^' Madame 
Duclaux apostrophizes thus: "We fall at 
once in love with St. Remy.'' With this pre- 
ponderance of modern opinion we throw in 
our lot as to the charms of St. Remy; and 
so it will be with most, whether with regard 
to its charming environment or its historical 
monuments, its arch, or its funeral memorials. 
One will only come away from this charm- 
ing petite ville with the idea that, in spite 
of its five thousand present-day inhabitants, 
it is something more than a modern shrine 
which has been erected over a collection of 
ancient relics. The little city breathes the 
very atmosphere of mediaevalism. 



235 




XIV 



ST. CASTOR DE NIMES 



Like its neighbouring Roman cities, Nimes 
lives mostly in the glorious past. 

In attempting to realize — if only in imag- 
ination — the civilization of a past age, one 
is bound to bear always in mind the motif 
which caused any great art expression to take 
place. 

Here at Nimes the church builder had 
much that was magnificent to emulate, leaving 
style apart from the question. 

He might, when he planned the cathedral 
of St. Castor, have avowed his intention of 

236 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

reaching, if possible, the grace and symmetry 
of the Maison Caree; the splendour of the 
temple of Diana; the majesty of the Tour 
Magna; the grandeur of the arena; or pos- 
sibly in some measure a blend of all these 
ambitious results. 

Instead, he built meanly and sordidly, 
though mainly by cause of poverty. 

The Church of the Middle Ages, though 
come to great power and influence, was not 
possessed of the fabulous wealth of the vain- 
glorious Roman, who gratified his senses and 
beautified his surroundings by a lavish ex- 
penditure of means, acquired often in a none 
too honest fashion. 

The imperative need of the soul was for a 
house of worship of some sort, and in some 
measure relative to the rank of the prelate 
who was to guard their religious life. This 
took shape in the early part of the eleventh 
century, when the cathedral of St. Castor was 
built. 

Of the varied and superlative attractions 
of the city one is attempted to enlarge unduly; 
until the thought comes that there is the mak- 
ing of a book itself to be fashioned out of 
a reconsideration of the splendid monuments 
which still exist in this city of celebrated art. 

239 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

To enumerate them all even would be an 
impossibility here. 

The tiny building known as the Maison 
Caree is of that greatness which is not ex- 
celled by the '' Divine Comedy " in literature, 
the " Venus of Milo " in sculpture, or the 
" Transfiguration " in painting. 

The delicacy and beauty of its Corinthian 
columns are the more apparent when viewed 
in conjunction with the pseudo-classical por- 
tico of mathematical clumsiness of the 
modern theatre opposite. 

This theatre is a dreadful caricature of the 
deathless work of the Greeks, while the 
perfect example of Greco-Romain architec- 
ture — the Maison Caree — will endure as 
long as its walls stand as the fullest expression 
of that sense of divine proportion and ma- 
gique harmonie which the Romans inherited 
from the Greeks. Cardinal Alberoni called 
it " a gem which should be set in gold," and 
both Louis Quatorze and Napoleon had 
schemes for lifting it bodily from the ground 
and reestablishing it at Paris. 

Les Arenes of Nimes is an unparalleled 
work of its class, and in' far better preserva- 
tion than any other extant. It stands, wel- 
coming the stranger, at the very gateway of 

240 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the city^ its grand axe extending off, in 
arcaded perspective, over four hundred and 
twenty feet, with room inside for thirty thou- 
sand souls. 

These Romans wrought on a m.agnificent 
scale, and here, as elsewhere, they have le^t 
evidences of their skill which are man" j 
of the non-decaying order. \ 

The Commission des Monuments Histo- 
riques lists in all at Nimes nine of these his- 
torical monuments over which the paternal 
care of the Ministere de ITnstruction Pub- 
lique et des Beaux Arts ever hangs. 

As if the only really fine element in the 
Cathedral of St. Castor were the fagade, with 
its remarkable frieze of events of Bible his- 
tory, the Commission has singled it out for 
especial care, which in truth it deserves, far 
and away above any other specific feature of 
this church. 

Christianity came early to Nimes; or, at 
least, the bishopric was founded here, with 
St. Felix as its first bishop, in the fourth cen- 
tury. At this time the diocese was a suffragan 
of Narbonne, whilst to-day its allegiance is 
to the archiepiscopal throne at Avignon. 

The cathedral of St. Castor was erected in 

241 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

1030, restored in the thirteenth century, and 
suffered greatly in the wars of the sixteenth 
and seventeenth centuries. 

These depredations have been — in part — 
made good, but in the main it is a rather 
gaunt and painful fabric, and one which is 
unlooked for amid so magnificent neighbours. 

It has been said by Roger Peyer — ^ who has 
written a most enticing monograph on Nimes 
— " that without prejudice we can say that 
the churches constructed in the city dans nos 
jours are far in advance of the cathedral." 
This is unquestionably true ; for, if we except 
the very ancient fagade, with its interesting 
sculptured frieze, there is little to impress the 
cathedral upon the mind except its contrast 
with its surrounding architectural peers. 

The main plan, with its flanking north- 
westerly square tower, is reminiscent of bun- 
dreds of parish churches yet to be seen in 
Italy; while its portal is but a mere classical 
doorway, too mean even to be classed as a de- 
tail of any rank whatever. 

The fagade has undergone some breaking- 
out and stopping-up of windows during the 
past decade; for what purpose it is hard to 
realize, as the efifect is neither enhanced nor 
the reverse. 

242 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

A gaunt supporting buttress, or what not, 
flanks the tower on the south and adds, yet 
further, to the incongruity of the ensemble. 

In fine, its decorations are a curious mix- 
ture of a more or less pure round-headed 
Roman style of window and doorway, with 
later Renaissance and pseudo-classical inter- 
polations. 

With the interior the edifice takes on more 
of an interesting character, though even here 
it is not remarkable as to beauty or grace. 

The nave is broad, aisleless, and bare, but 
presents an air of grandeur which is perhaps 
not otherwise justified; an effect which is 
doubtless wholly produced by a certain cheer- 
fulness of aspect, which comes from the fact 
that it has been restored — or at least thor- 
oughly furbished up — in recent times. 

The large Roman nave, erected, it has been 
said, from the remains of a former temple of 
Augustus, has small chapels, without win- 
dows, beyond its pillars in place of the usual 
side aisles. 

Above is a fine gallery or tribune, which 
also surrounds the choir. 

The modern mural paintings — the prod- 
uct of the Restoration period — give an air 
of splendour and elegance, after the manner 

243 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of the Italian churches, to an appreciably 
greater extent than is commonly seen in 
France. 

In the third chapel on the left is an altar- 
table made of an early Christian sarcophagus; 
a questionable practice perhaps, but forming 
an otherwise beautiful, though crude, acces- 
sory. 



■244 




XV 



ST. THEODORIT D'UZES 



The ancient diocese of Uzes formerly in- 
cluded that region lying between the Ardeche, 
the Rhone, and the Gardon, its length and 
breadth being perhaps equal — fourteen an- 
cient leagues. As a bishopric, it endured 
from the middle of the fifth century nearly 
to the beginning of the nineteenth. 

In ancient Gallic records its cathedral was 
reckoned as some miles from the present site 

245 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of the town, but as no other remains than 
those of St. Theodorit are known to-day, it is 
improbable that any references in mediaeval 
history refer to another structure. 

This church is now no longer a cathedral, 
the see having been suppressed in 1790. 

The bishop here, as at Lodeve and Mende, 
was the count of the town, and the bishop and 
duke each possessed their castles and had their 
respective spheres of jurisdiction, which, says 
an old-time chronicler, " often occasioned 
many disputes." Obviously! 

In the sixteenth century most of the inhab- 
itants embraced the Reformation after the 
example of their bishop, who, with all his 
chapter, publicly turned Protestant and " sent 
for a minister to Geneva." 

What remains of the cathedral to-day is 
reminiscent of a highly interesting mediaeval 
foundation, though its general aspect is dis- 
tinctly modern. Such rebuilding and res- 
toration as it underwent, in the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries, made of it practi- 
cally a new edifice. 

The one feature of mark, which stands 
alone as the representative of mediaeval times, 
is the charming tower which flanks the main 
body of the church on the right 

246 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

It is known as the ^' Tour Fenestrelle " and 
is of the thirteenth century. It would be a 
notable accessory to any great church, and is 
of seven stories in height, each dwindling in 
size from the one below, forming a veritable 
campanile. Its height is 130 feet. 

The interior attractions of this minor 
church are greater than might be supposed. 
There is a low gallery with a superb series 
of wrought-iron grilles, a fine tomb in marble 
— to Bishop Boyan — and in the transept two 
paintings by Simon de Chalons — a " Resur- 
rection " and a " Raising of Lazarus." 

The inevitable obtrusive organ-case is of 
the seventeenth century, and like all of its 
kind is a parasitical abomination, clinging 
precariously to the western wall. 

The sacristy is an extensive suite of rooms 
which contain throughout a deep-toned and 
mellow oaken wainscot. 

For the rest, the lines of this church follow 
the conventionality of its time. Its propor- 
tions, while not great, are good, and there is no 
marked luxuriance of ornament or any ex- 
ceeding grace in the entire structure, if we 
except the detached tower before mentioned. 

The situation of the town is most pictur- 



247 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

esque; not daintily pretty, but of a certain 
dignified order, which is the more satisfying. 
The ancient chateau, called Le Duche, is 
the real architectural treat of the place. 



248 



XVI 

ST. JEAN D'ALAIS 

Alais is an ancient city, but greatly mod- 
ernized; moreover it does not take a supreme 
rank as a cathedral city, from the fact that 
it held a bishop's throne for but a hundred 
years. Alais was a bishopric only from 1694 
to 1790. 

The cathedral of St. Jean is an imposing 
structure of that obtrusive variety of archi- 
tectural art known as '^ Louis Quinze," and is 
unworthy of the distinction once bestowed 
upon it. 

Perhaps it is due to the fact that the Ce- 
venole country was so largely and aggressively 
Protestant that the see of Alais did not endure. 
Robert Louis Stevenson tells of a stranger he 
met in these mountain parts — that he was a 
Catholic, " and made no shame of it. No 
shame of it! The phrase is a piece of natural 
statistics; for it is the language of one of a 
minority. . . . Ireland is still Catholic; the 

249 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Cevennes still Protestant. Outdoor rustics 
have not many ideas, but such as they have 
are hardy plants and thrive flourishingly in 
persecution." 

Built about in the fagade of this unfeeling 
structure are some remains of a twelfth-cen- 
tury church, but they are not of sufficient bulk 
or excellence to warrant remark. 

An advancing porch stands before this west 
fagade and is surmounted by a massive tower 
in a poor Gothic style. 

The vast interior, like the exterior, is en- 
tirely without distinction, though gaudily dec- 
orated. There are some good pictures, which, 
as works of art, are a decided advance over 
any other attributes of this church — an '^ As- 
sumption," attributed to Mignard, in the 
chapel of the Virgin ; in the left transept, 
a "Virgin" by Deveria; and in the right 
transept an "Annunciation" by Jalabert. 

Alais is by no means a dull place. It is 
busy with industry, is prosperous, and pos- 
sesses on a minute scale all the distractions 
of a great city. It is modern to the very core, 
so far as appearances go. It has its Boulevard 
Victor Hugo, its Boulevard Gambetta, and its 
Lycee Dumas. The Hopital St. Louis — 
which has a curious doubly twisted staircase 

250 



\ 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

— is of the eighteenth century; a bust of the 
Marquis de la Fere-Alais, the Cevenole poet, 
is of the nineteenth; a monument of bronze, 
to the glory of Pasteur, dates from 1896; and 
various other bronze and stone memorials 
about the city all date and perpetuate the 
name and fame of eighteenth and nineteenth- 
century notables. 

The Musee — another recent creation — 
occupies the former episcopal residence, of 
eighteenth-century construction. 

The Hotel de Ville is quite the most charm- 
ing building of the city. It has fine halls and 
corridors, and an ample bibliotheque. Its 
present-day Salle du Conseil was the ancient 
chamber of the Ktats du Languedoc, 



251 



XVII 

ST. PIERRE D'ANNECY 

The Savoian city of Annecy was formerly 
the ancient capital of the Genevois. 

Its past history is more closely allied with 
other political events than those which em- 
anated from within the kingdom of France; 
and its ecclesiastical allegiance was intimately 
related with Geneva, from whence the epis- 
copal seat was removed in 1535. 

In reality the Christian activities of Annecy 
had but little to do with the Church in 
France, Savoie only having been ceded to 
France in i860. Formerly it belonged to the 
dues de Savoie and the kings of Sardinia. 

Annecy is a most interesting city, and pos- 
sesses many, if not quite all, of the attractions 
of Geneva itself, including the Lake of 
Annecy, which is quite as romantically pictur- 
esque as Lac Leman, though its proportions 
are not nearly so great. 

The city's interest for the lover of religious 

252 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

associations is perhaps greater than for the 
lover of church architecture alone, but, as the 
two must perforce go hand in hand the greater 
part of the way, Annecy will be found to rank 
high in the annals of the history and art of 
the religious life of the past. 

In the chapel of the Visitation, belonging 
to the convent of the same name, are buried 
St. Frangois de Sales (d. 1622) and Ste. 
Jeanne de Chantal (d. 1641). The chapel 
is architecturally of no importance, but the 
marble ornament and sculptures and the rich 
paintings are interesting. 

The ancient chapel of the Visitation — the 
convent of the first monastery founded by St. 
Francis and Ste. Jeanne — immediately ad- 
joins the cathedral. 

Christianity first came to Annecy in the 
fourth century, with St. Emilien. For long 
after its foundation the see was a suffragan 
of the ancient ecclesiastical province of Vi- 
enne. To-day it is a suffragan of Cham- 
be ry. 

The rather ordinary cathedral of St. Pierre 
has no great interest as an architectural type, 
and is possessed of no embellishments of a 
rank sufficiently high to warrant remark. It 
dates only from the sixteenth century, and is 

253 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

quite unconvincing as to any art expression 
which its builders may have possessed. 

The episcopal palace (1784) adjoins the 
cathedral on the south. 



254 




XVIII 



CATHEDRALE DE CHAMBERY 



The city of Chambery in the eighteenth 
century must have been a veritable hotbed of 
aristocracy. A French writer of that day has 
indeed stated that it is '' the winter residence 
of all the aristocracy of Savoie; . . . with 
twenty thousand francs one could live en 
grand seigneur; ... a country gentleman, 
with an income of a hundred and twenty 
louis d'or a year, would as a matter of course 
take up his abode in the town for the winter." 

To-day such a basis upon which to make 
an estimate of the value of Chambery as a 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

place of residence would be, it is to be feared, 
misleading. 

Arthur Young closes his observations upon 
the agricultural prospects of Savoie with the 
bold statement that: " On this day, left Cham- 
bery much dissatisfied, — for the want of 
knowing more of it." 

Rousseau knew it better, much better. 
'^ 8'il est une petite ville au monde ou Von 
goute la douceur de la vie dans un commerce 
agreable et sur, c'est Chambery/^ 

Savoie and the Comte de Nice were an- 
nexed to France only as late as i860, and from 
them were formed the departments of Savoie, 
Haute-Savoie, and the Alpes-Maritimes. 

Chambery is to-day an archbishopric, with 
suffragans at Annecy, Tarentaise, and St. 
Jean de Maurienne. Formerly conditions 
were reversed, and Chambery was merely a 
bishopric in the province de Tarentaise. Its 
first bishop, Michel Conseil, came in office, 
however, only in 1780. 

The cathedral is of the fourteenth century, 
in the pointed style, and as a work of art is 
distinctly of a minor class. 

The principal detail of note is a western 
portal which somewhat approaches good 
Gothic, but in the main, both inside and out, 

256 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the church has no remarkable features, if we 
except some modern glass, which is better 
in colour than most late work of its kind. 

As if to counteract any additional charm 
which this glass might otherwise lend to the 
interior, we find a series of flamboyant tra- 
ceries over the major portion of the side walls 
and vaulting. These are garish and in every 
way unpleasing, and the interior effect, like 
that of the exterior, places the cathedral at 
Chambery far down the scale among great 
churches. 

Decidedly the architectural embellishments 
of Chambery lie not in its cathedral. 

The chapel of the ancient chateau, dating 
in part from the thirteenth century, but 
mainly of the Gothic-Renaissance period, is 
far and away the most splendid architectural 
monument of its class to be seen here. 

ha Grande Chartreuse is equally accessible 
from either Chambery or Grenoble, and 
should not be neglected when one is attempt- 
ing to familiarize himself with these parts. 



257 




XIX 



NOTRE DAME DE GRENOBLE 



It is an open question as to whether Gre- 
noble is not possessed of the most admirable 
and impressive situation of any cathedral city 
of France. 

At all events it has the attribute of a unique 
background in the massif de la Chartreuse, 
and the range of snow-clad Alps, which rise 
so abruptly as to directly screen and shelter 
the city from all other parts lying north and 
east. Furthermore this natural windbreak, 
coupled with the altitude of the city itself, 
makes for a bright and sunny, and withal 

258 



« 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

bracing, atmosphere which many professed 
tourist and health resorts lack. 

Grenoble is in all respects " a most pleas- 
ant city/' and one which contains much of 
interest for all sorts and conditions of pil- 
grims. 

Anciently Grenoble was a bishopric in the 
diocese of the Province of Vienne, to whose 
archbishop the see was at that time subordi- 
nate. Its foundation was during the third 
century, and its first prelate was one Domni- 
nus. 

In the redistribution of dioceses Grenoble 
became a suffragan of Lyon et Vienne, which 
is its status to-day. 

As might naturally be inferred, in the case 
of so old a foundation, its present-day cathe- 
dral of Notre Dame partakes also of early 
origin. 

This it does, to a small degree only, with 
respect to certain of the foundations of the 
choir. These date from the eleventh century, 
while succeeding eras, of a mixed and none 
too pure an architectural style, culminate in 
presenting a singularly unconvincing and 
cold church edifice. 

The '' pointed '' tabernacle, which is the 
chief interior feature, is of the middle fif- 

259 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

teenth century, and indeed the general effect 
is that of the late Middle Ages, if not actually 
suggestive of still later modernity. 

The tomb of Archbishop Chisse, dating 
from 1407, is the cathedral's chief monu- 
mental shrine. 

To the left of the cathedral is the ancient 
bishop's palace; still used as such. It occu- 
pies the site of an eleventh-century episcopal 
residence, but the structure itself is probably 
not earlier than the fifteenth century. 

In the t^glise de St. Andre, a thirteenth- 
century structure, is a tomb of more than 
usual sentimental and historical interest: that 
of Bayard. It v^ill be found in the transept. 
. No mention of Grenoble could well ignore 
the famous monastery of La Grande Char- 
treuse. 

Mostly, it is to be feared, the monastery is 
associated in mundane minds with that subtle 
and luxurious liqueur which has been brewed 
by the white-robed monks of St. Bruno for 
ages past; and was until quite recently, when 
the establishment was broken up by govern- 
ment decree and the real formula of this 
sparkling liqueur departed with the migrat- 
ing monks. 

The opinion is ventured, however, that up 

160 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

to the time of their expulsion (in 1902), the 
monks of St. Bruno combined solitude, aus- 
terity, devotion, and charity of a most prac- 
tical kind with a lucrative commerce in their 




distilled product after a successful manner 
not equalled by any religious community be- 
fore or since. 

The Order of St. Bruno has weathered 
many storms, and, during the Terror, was 

261 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

driven from its home and dispersed by brutal 
and riotous soldiery. In 1816 a remnant re- 
turned, escorted, it is said, by a throng of 
fifty thousand people. 

The cardinal rule of the Carthusians is ab- 
stemiousness from all meat-eating; which, 
however, in consideration of their calm, reg- 
ular life, and a diet in which fish plays an im- 
portant part, is apparently conducive to that 
longevity which most of us desire. 

It is related that a certain Dominican pope 
wished to diminish the severity of St. Bruno's 
regulations, but was met by a delegation of 
Carthusians, whose doyen owned to one hun- 
dred and twenty years, and whose youngest 
member was of the ripe age of ninety. The 
amiable pontiff, not having, apparently, an 
argument left, accordingly withdrew his 
edict. 

Of all these great Charterhouses spread 
throughout France, ha Grande Chartreuse 
was the most inspiring and interesting; not 
only from the structure itself, but by reason 
of its commanding and romantic situation 
amid the forest-clad heights of the Savoyan 
Alps. 

The first establishment here was the foun- 
dation pf St. Bruno (in 1084), which con- 

262 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

sisted merely of a modest chapel and a num- 
ber of isolated cubicles. 

This foundation only gave way — as late as 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — to 
an enlarged structure more in accord with 
the demands and usage of this period. 

The most distinctive feature of its archi- 
tecture is the grand cloister, wifh its hundred 
and fifteen Gothic arches, out of which open 
the sixty cells of the sandalled and hooded 
white-robed monks, who, continuing St. Bru- 
no's regulation, live still in isolation. In these 
cells they spent all of their time outside the 
hours of work and worship, but were allowed 
the privilege of receiving one colleague at 
a time. Here, too, they^ ate their meals, with 
the exception of the principal meal on Sun- 
days, when they all met together in the refec- 
tory. 

The Eglise de la Grande Chartreuse itself 
is very simple, about the only distinctive or 
notable feature being the sixteenth-century 
choir-stalls. At the midnight service, or at 
matins, when the simple church is lit only 
by flaming torches, and the stalls filled with 
white-robed Chartreux, is presented a pic- 
ture which for solemnity and impressiveness 



263 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

is as vivid as any which has come down from 
mediaeval times. 

The chanting of the chorals, too, is unlike 
anything heard before; it has indeed been 
called, before now, angelic. Petrarch, whose 
brother was a member of the order, has put 
himself on record as having been enchanted 
by it. 

As many as ten thousand visitors have 
passed through the portals of ha Grande 
Chartreuse during the year, but now in the 
absence of the monks — temporary or per- 
manent as is yet to be determined — condi- 
tions obtain which will not allow of entrance 
to the conventual buildings. 
. No one, however, who visits either Gre- 
noble or Chambery should fail to journey to 
St. Laurent du Pont — the gateway of the 
fastness which enfolds Ca Grande Chartreuse, 
and thence to beneath the shadow of the walls 
which for so long sheltered the parent house 
of this ancient and powerful order. 



264 




Belley 



XX 

BELLEY AND AOSTE 

En route to Chambery, from Lyon, one 
passes the little town of Belley. It is an an- 
cient place, most charmingly situated, and is 
a suffragan bishopric, strangely enough, of 
Besangon, which is not only Teutonic in its 
tendencies, but is actually of the north. 

At all events, Belley, in spite of its clear and 
crisp mountain air, is not of the same climatic 
zone as the other dioceses in the archbishop- 
ric of Besangon. 

Its cathedral is distinctly minor as to style, 
and is mainly Gothic of the fifteenth century; 
though not unmixed, nor even consistent, in 
its various parts. No inconsiderable portion 
is modern, as will be plainly seen. 

One distinctly notable feature is a series of 
Romanesque columns in the nave, possibly 
taken from some pagan Roman structure. 
They are sufficiently of importance and value 

267 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

to be classed as *^ Monuments Historiques,^^ 
and as such are interesting. 

Aoste (Aoste-St-Genix) is on the site of 
the Roman colony of Augustum, of which to- 
day there are but a few fragmentary remains. 
It is perhaps a little more than a mile from the 
village of St. Genix, with which to-day its 
name is invariably coupled. As an ancient 
bishopric in the province of Tarentaise, it 
took form in the fourth century, with St. Eu- 
stache as its first bishop. To- day the ecclesi- 
astical jurisdiction of all this region — the 
Val-de-Tarentaise — is held by Tarentaise. 



268 




XXI 



ST. JEAN DE MAURIENNE 



St. Jean DE Maurienne is a tiny moun- 
tain city well within the advance-guard of 
the Alpine range. Of itself it savours no 
more of the picturesque than do the imme- 
diate surroundings. One can well under- 
stand that vegetation round about has grown 
scant merely because of the dearth of fructify- 
ing soil. The valle^^s and the ravines flourish, 
but the enfolding walls of rock are bare and 
sterile. 

This is the somewhat abbreviated descrip- 
tion of the pagi garnered from an ancient 

269 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

source, and is, in the main, true enough 
to-day. 

Not many casual travellers ever get to this 
mountain city of the Alps; they are mostly 
rushed through to Italy, and do not stop short 
of the frontier station of Modane, some thirty 
odd kilometres onward ; from which point on- 
ward only do they know the " lie of the land " 
between Paris and Piedmont. 

St. Jean de Maurienne is to-day, though a 
suffragan of Chambery, a bishopric in the old 
ecclesiastical province of Tarentaise. The 
first archbishop — as the dignity was then — 
was St. Jacques, in the fifth century. 

The cathedral of St. Jean is of a peculiar 
architectural style, locally known as " Char- 
treusian." It is by no means beautiful, but 
it is not unpleasing. It dates, as to the epoch 
of its distinctive style, from the twelfth to the 
fifteenth centuries, though it has been so fully 
restored in our day that it may as well be 
considered as a rebuilt structure, in spite of 
the consistent devotion to the original plan. 

The chief features of note are to be seen 
in its interior, and, while they are perhaps not 
of extraordinary value or beauty, in any sin- 
gle instance, they form, as a whole, a highly 
interesting disposition of devout symbols. 

270 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Immediately within the portico, by which 
one enters from the west, is a plaster model 
of the tomb of Count Humbert, the head of 
the house of Savoie. 

In the nave is an altar and mausoleum in 
marble, gold, and mosaic, erected by the Car- 
thusians to St. Ayrald, a former bishop of the 
diocese and a member of their order. 

In the left aisle of the nave is a tomb to 
Oger de Conflans, and another to two former 
bishops. 

Through the sacristy, which is behind the 
chapel of the Sacred Heart, is the entrance 
to the cloister. This cloister, while not of 
ranking greatness or beauty, is carried out, 
in the most part, in the true pointed style of 
its era (1452), and is, on the whole, the most 
charming attribute of the cathedral. 

The choir has a series of carved stalls in 
wood, which are unusually acceptable. In 
the choir, also, is a cihorium, in alabaster, 
with a reliquaire which is said to contain three 
fingers of John the Baptist, brought to Savoie 
in the sixth century by Ste. Thecle. 

The crypt, beneath the choir, is, as is most 
frequently the case, the remains of a still 
earlier church, which occupied the same site, 
but of which there is little record extant. 

271 



XXII 

ST. PIERRE DE ST. CLAUDE 

St. Claude is charmingly situated in a 
romantic valley of the Jura. 

The sound of mill-wheels and the sight of 
factory chimneys mingle inextricably with 
the roaring of mountain torrents and the soli- 
tude of the pine forest. 

The majority of the inhabitants of these 
valleys lead a simple and pastoral life, with 
cheese-making apparently the predominant 
industry. Manufacturing of all kinds is car- 
ried on, in a small way, in nearly every ham- 
let — in tiny cottage ateliers — wood-carving, 
gem-polishing, spectacle and clock-making, 
besides turnery and wood-working of all 
sorts. 

St. Claude, with its ancient cathedral of 
St. Pierre, is the centre of all these activities; 
which must suggest to all publicists of time- 
worn and ennuied lands a deal of possibilities 

272 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

in the further application of such industrial 
energies as lie close at hand. 

In 1789, when Arthur Young, in his third 
journey through France, passed through St. 
Claude, the count-bishop of the diocese, the 
sole inheritor of its wealthy abbey foundation 
and all its seigneurial dependencies, had only 
just enfranchised his forty thousand serfs. 

Voltaire, the atheist, pleaded in vain the 
cause of this Christian prelate, and for him 
to be allowed to sustain his right to bond- 
men ; but opposition was too great, and they 
became free to enjoy property rights, could 
they but once acquire them. Previously, if 
childless, they had no power to bequeath their 
property; it reverted simply to the seigneur 
by custom of tradition. 

In the fifth century, St. Claude was the site 
of a powerful abbey. It did not become an 
episcopal see, however, until 1742, when its 
first bishop was Joseph de Madet. 

At the Revolution the see was suppressed, 
but it rose again, phoenix-like, in 1821, and 
endures to-day as a suffragan of Lyon et 
Vienne. 

The cathedral of St. Pierre is a fourteenth- 
century edifice, with later work (seventeenth 
century) equally to be remarked. As a work 

273 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of restoration it appears poorly done, but the 
entire structure is of more than ordinary in- 
terest; nevertheless it still remains an uncom- 
pleted work. 

The church is of exceedingly moderate 
dimensions, and is in no sense a great achieve- 
ment. Its length cannot be much over two 
hundred feet, and its width and height are 
approximately equal (85 feet), producing a 
symmetry which is too conventional to be 
really lovable. 

Still, considering its environment and the 
association as the old abbey church, to which 
St. Claude, the bishop of Besangon, retired 
in the twelfth century, it has far more to offer 
in the way of a pleasing prospect than many 
cathedrals of greater architectural worth. 

There are, in its interior, a series of fine 
choir-stalls in wood, of the fifteenth century 
— comparable only with those at Rodez and 
Albi for their excellence and the luxuriance 
of their carving — a sculptured Renaissance 
retable depicting the life of St. Pierre, and a 
modern high-altar. This last accessory is not 
as worthy an art work as the two others. 



274 




Notre Dame de Bourg 



XXIII 

NOTRE DAME DE BOURG 

The chief ecclesiastical attraction . of 
Bourg-en-Bresse is not its one-time cathedral 
of Notre Dame, which is but a poor Renais- 
sance affair of the fifteenth to seventeenth 
centuries. 

The famous Eglise de Brou, which Mat- 
thew Arnold described so justly and fully in 
his verses, is a florid Gothic monument which 
ranks among the most celebrated in France. 
It is situated something less than a mile from 
the town, and is a show-piece which will not 
be neglected. Its charms are too many and 
varied to be even suggested here. 

There are a series of sculptured figures of 
the prophets and apostles, from a fifteenth or 
sixteenth-century atelier, that may or may not 
have given the latter-day Sargent his sug- 
gestion for his celebrated " frieze of the 
prophets." They are wonderfully like, at all 

277 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

events, and the observation is advisedly in- 
cluded here, though it is not intended as a 
sneer at Sargent's masterwork. 

This wonderful sixteenth-century Eglise de 
Brou, in a highly decorated Gothic style, its 
monuments, altars, and admirable glass, is 
not elsewhere equalled, as to elaborateness, 
in any church of its size or rank. 

Notre Dame de Bourg — the cathedral — 
though manifestly a Renaissance structure, 
has not a little of the Gothic spirit in its in- 
terior arrangements and details. It is as if 
a Renaissance shell — and not a handsome 
one — were enclosing a Gothic treasure. 

There is the unusual polygonal apside, 
which dates from the fifteenth or sixteenth 
century, and is the most curious part of the 
entire edifice. 

The octagonal tower of the west has, in its 
higher story, been replaced by an ugly dome- 
shaped excrescence surmounted by an enor- 
mous gilded cross which is by no means beau- 
tiful. 

The west fagade in general, in whose portal 
are shown some evidences of the Gothic spirit, 
which at the time of its erection had not 
wholly died, is uninteresting and all out of 
proportion to a church of its rank. 

278 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The interior effect somewhat redeems the 
unpromising exterior. 

There is a magnificent marble high-altar, 
jewel-wrought and of much splendour. The 
two chapels have modern glass, A fine head 
of Christ, carved in ivory, is to be seen in the 
sacristy. Previous to 1789 it was kept in the 
great council-chamber of the Ktats de la 
Bresse. 

In the sacristy also there are two pictures, 
of the German school of the sixteenth century. 

There are sixty-eight stalls, of the sixteenth 
century, carved in wood. Curiously enough, 
these stalls — of most excellent workmanship 
— are not placed within the regulation con- 
fines of the choir, but are ranged in two rows 
along the wall of the apside. 



279 



XXIV 

GLANDEVE, SENEZ, RIEZ, SISTERON 

The diocese of Digne now includes four 
ci-devant bishoprics, each of which was, sup- 
pressed at the Revolution. 

The ruins of the ancient bishopric of Glan- 
deve are to-day replaced by the small town 
of D'Entrevaux, whose former cathedral of 
St. Just has now disappeared. The see of 
Glandeve had in all fifty-three bishops, the 
first — St. Fraterne — in the year 459. 

Senez was composed of but thirty-two par- 
ishes. It was, however, a very ancient foun- 
dation, dating from 445 A. D. Its cathedral 
was known as Notre Dame, and its chapter 
was composed of five canons and three dig- 
nitaries. At various times forty-three bishops 
occupied the episcopal throne at Senez. 

The suppression likewise made way with the 
bishopric at Riez, a charming little city of 
Provence. The see was formerly composed 
of fifty-four parishes, and its cathedral of 

280 




N 



OTRE DAME 
de SISTERON 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Notre Dame had a chapter of eight canons 
and four dignitaries. The first bishop was 
St. Prosper, in the early part of the fifth cen- 
tury. Ultimately he was followed by seventy- 
four others. Two " councils of the church " 
were held at Riez, the first in 439, and the 
second in 1285. 

The diocese of Sisteron was situated in the 
charming mountain town of the Basses-Alps. 
This brisk little fortress-city still offers to the 
traveller many of the attractions of yore, 
though its former cathedral of Notre Dame 
no longer shelters a bishop's throne. 

Four dignitaries and eight canons per- 
formed the functions of the cathedral, and 
served the fifty parishes allied with it. 

The first bishop was Chrysaphius, in 452, 
and the last, Frangois Bovet, in 1789. This 
prelate in 1801 refused the oath of allegiance 
demanded by the new regime, and forthwith 
resigned, when the see was combined with 
that of Diene. 

The ancient cathedral of Notre Dame de 
Sisteron of the eleventh and twelfth centuries 
is now ranked as a '* Monument Historique/' 
It dates, in the main, from the twelfth cen- 
tury, and is of itself no more remarkable than 



281 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

many of the other minor cathedrals of this 
part of France. 

Its chief distinction lies in its grand retable, 
which is decorated with a series of superb 
paintings by Mignard. 

The city lies picturesquely posed at the foot 
of a commanding height, which in turn is 
surmounted by the ancient citadel. Across 
the defile, which is deeply cut by the river 
Durance, rises the precipitous Mont de la 
Baume, which, with the not very grand or 
splendid buildings of the city itself, composes 
the ensemble at once into a distinctively " old- 
world " spot, which the march of progress 
has done little to temper. 

It looks not a little like a piece of stage- 
scenery, to be sure, but it is a wonderful 
grouping of the works of nature and of the 
hand of man, and one which it will be difficult 
to duplicate elsewhere in France; in fact, it 
will not be possible to do so. 



282 




XXV 



ST. JEROME DE DIGNE 



The diocese of Digne, among all of its 
neighbours, has survived until to-day. It is 
a suffragan of Aix, Aries, and Embrun, and 
has jurisdiction over the whole of the Depart- 
ment of the Basses-Alps. St. Domnin be- 
came its first bishop, in the fourth century. 

The ancient Romanesque cathedral of 
Notre Dame — from which the bishop's seat 
has been removed to the more modern St. 
Jerome — is an unusually interesting old 
church, though bare and unpretentious to-day. 
It dates from the twelfth century, and has 

283 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

all the distinguishing marks of its era. Its 
nave is, moreover, a really fine work, and 
worthy to rank with many more important. 
There are, in this nave, some traces of a series 
of curious wall-paintings dating from the 
fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. 

St. Jerome de Digne — called la cathedrale 
fort magnifiante — is a restored Gothic 
church of the early ages of the style, though 
it has been placed — in some doubt — as of 
the fifteenth century. 

The apse is semicircular, without chapels, 
and the general effect of the interior as a 
whole is curiously marred by reason of the 
lack of transepts, clerestory, and triforium. 

This notable poverty of feature is perhaps 
made up for by the amplified side aisles, 
which are doubled throughout. 

The western portal, which is of an accept- 
able modern Gothic, is of more than usual 
interest as to its decorations. In the tym- 
panum of the arch is a figure of the Saviour 
giving his blessing, with the emblems of the 
Evangelists below, and an angel and the peli- 
can — the emblem of the sacrament— above. 
Beneath the figure of the Saviour is another 
of St. Jerome, the patron, to whom the ca- 
thedral is dedicated. 

284 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

A square, ungainly tower holds a noisy peal 
of bells, which, though a great source of local 
pride, can but prove annoying to the stranger, 
with their importunate and unseemly clang- 
ing. 

The chief accessories, in the interior, are 
an elaborate organ-case, — of the usual doubt- 
ful taste, — a marble statue of St. Vincent de 
Paul (by Daumas, 1869), and a sixteenth or 
seventeenth-century statue of a former bishop 
of the diocese. 

Digne has perhaps a more than ordinary 
share of picturesque environment, seated, as 
it is, luxuriously in the lap of the surrounding 
mountains. 

St. Domnin, the first bishop, came, it is 
said, from Africa at a period variously stated 
as from 330 to 340 A. D., but, at any rate, well 
on into the fourth century. His enthronement 
appears to have been undertaken amid much 
heretical strife, and was only accomplished 
with the aid of St. Marcellin, the archbishop 
of Embrun, of which the diocese of Digne 
was formerly a suffragan. 

The good St. Domnin does not appear to 
have made great headway in putting out the 
flame of heresy, though his zeal was great 
and his miracles many. He departed this 

285 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

world before the dawn of the fifth century, 
and his memory is still brought to the minds 
of the communicants of the cathedral each 
year on the 13th of February — his fete- 
day — by the display of a reliquary, which is 
said to contain — somewhat unemphatically 
— the remains of his head and arm. 

Wonderful cures are supposed to result to 
the infirm who view this relique in a proper 
spirit of veneration, and devils are warranted 
to be cast out from the true believer under 
like conditions. 

A council of the Church was held at Digne 
in 1414. 



286 



XXVI 

NOTRE DAME DE DIE 

The Augusta Dia of the Romans is to-day 
a diminutive French town lying at the foot 
of the colline whose apex was formerly sur- 
mounted by the more ancient city. 

It takes but little ecclesiastical rank, and 
is not even a tourist resort of renown. It is, 
however, a shrine which encloses and sur- 
rounds many monuments of the days which 
are gone, and is possessed of an ancient Arc 
de Triomphe which would attract many of 
the genus '" touriste/' did they but realize its 
charm. 

The cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin, 
sheltered a bishop's throne from the founda- 
tion of the bishopric until 1285, when a hiatus 
ensued — apparently from some inexplicable 
reason — until 1672, when its episcopal dig- 
nity again came into being. Finally, in 1801, 
the diocese came to an end. St. Mars was the 

287 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 



first bishop, the see having been founded in 
the third century. 

The porch of this cathedral is truly re- 
markable, having been taken from a former 
temple to Cybele, and dates at least from some 
years previous to the eleventh century. An- 
other portal of more than usual remark — 
known as the porte rouge — is fashioned from 
contemporary fragments of the same period. 

While to all intents and purposes the ca- 
thedral is an early architectural work, its rank 
to-day is that of a restored or rebuilt church 
of the seventeenth century. 

The nave is one of the largest in this part 
of France, being 270 feet in length and sev- 
enty-six feet in width. It has no side aisles 
and is entirely without pillars to break its 
area, which of course appears more vast than 
it really is. 

What indications there are which would 
place the cathedral among any of the distinct 
architectural styles are of the pointed variety. 

Aside from its magnificent dimensions, 
there are no interior features of remark ex- 
cept a gorgeous Renaissance pulpit and a 
curious cene. 



288 



XXVII 

NOTRE DAME ET ST. CASTOR D'APT 

Apt is doubtfully claimed to have been a 
bishopric under St. Auspice in the first cen- 
tury, but the ancient Apia Julia of Roman 
times is to-day little more than an interesting 
by-point, with but little importance in either 
ecclesiological or art matters. 

Its cathedral — as a cathedral — ceased to 
exist in 1790. It is of the species which would 
be generally accepted as Gothic, so far as ex- 
terior appearances go, but it is bare and poor 
in ornament and design, and as a type ranks 
far down the scale. 

In its interior arrangements the style be- 
comes more florid, and takes on something of 
the elaborateness which in a more thoroughly 
worthy structure would be unremarked. 

The chief decoration lies in the rather elab- 
orate jube, or choir-screen, which stands out 
far more prominently than any other interior 
feature, and is without doubt an admirable 

289 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

example of this not too frequent attribute of 
a French church. 

Throughout there are indications of the 
work of many epochs and eras, from the crypt 
of the primitive church to the Chapelle de 
Ste. Anne, constructed by Mansard in the sev- 
enteenth century. This chapel contains some 
creditable paintings by Parrocel, and yet 
others, in a still better style, by Mignard. 

The crypt, which formed a part of the 
earlier church on this site, is the truly pic- 
turesque feature of the cathedral at Apt, and, 
like many of its kind, is now given over to 
a series of subterranean chapels. 

Among the other attributes of the interior 
are a tomb of the Dues de Sabron, a marble 
altar of the twelfth century, a precious enamel 
of the same era, and a Gallo-Romain sar- 
cophagus of the fifth century. 

As to the exterior effect and ensemble, the 
cathedral is hardly to be remarked, either in 
size or splendour, from the usual parish 
church of the average small town of France. 
It does not rise to a very ambitious height, 
neither does its ground-plan suggest magnifi- 
cent proportions. Altogether it proves to be 
a cathedral which is neither very interesting 
nor even picturesque. 

290 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The little city itself is charmingly situated 
on the banks of the Coulon, a small stream 
which runs gaily on its way to the Durance, 
at times torrential, which in turn goes to swell 
the flood of the Rhone below Avignon. 

The former bishop's palace is now the pre- 
fecture and Mairie. 



29T 




sssj-y^^-s- 

, Gmirun 



XXVIII 



NOTRE DAME D'EMBRUN 



Embrun, not unlike its neighbouring towns 
in the valley of the Durance, is possessed of 
the same picturesque environment as Sisteron 
and Digne. It is perched high on that species 
of eminence known in France as a colline, 
though in this case it does not rise to a very 
magnificent height; what there is of it, how- 

292 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ever, serves to accentuate the picturesque ele- 
ment as nothing else would. 

The episcopal dignity of the town is only 
partial; it shares the distinction with Aix 
and Aries. 

The Eglise Notre Dame, though it is still 
locally known as '' la cathedrale!' is of the 
twelfth century, and has a wonderful old 
Romanesque north porch and peristyle set 
about with gracefully proportioned columns, 
the two foremost of which are supported upon 
the backs of a pair of weird-looking animals, 
which are supposed to represent the twelfth- 
century stone-cutter's conception of the king 
of beasts. In the tympanum of this portal 
are sculptured figures of Christ and the Evan- 
gelists, in no wise of remarkable quality, but 
indicating, with the other decorative features, 
a certain luxuriance which is not otherwise 
suggested in the edifice. 

The Romanesque tower which belongs to 
the church proper is, as to its foundations, of 
very early date, though, as a finished detail, 
it is merely a rebuilt fourteenth-century struc- 
ture carried out on the old lines. There is 
another tower, commonly called *' la tour 
brune'^ which adjoins the ancient bishop's 



'^93 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

palace, and dates from at least a century before 
the main body of the church. 

The entire edifice presents an architectural 
melange that makes it impossible to classify 
it as of any one specific style, but the opinion 
is hazarded that it is all the more interesting 
a shrine because of this incongruity. 

The choir, too, indicates that it has been 
built up from fragments of a former fabric, 
while the west front is equally unconvincing, 
and has the added curious effect of presenting 
a variegated facade, which is, to say the least 
and the most, very unusual. A similar sugges- 
tion is found occasionally in the Auvergne, 
but the interweaving of party-coloured stone, 
in an attempt to produce variety, has too often 
not been taken advantage of. In this case it 
is not so very pleasing, but one has a sort of 
sympathetic regard for it nevertheless. 

In the Interior there are no constructive 
features of remark; indeed there is little em- 
bellishment of any sort. There is an eight- 
eenth-century altar, in precious marbles, 
worked after the old manner, and in the sac- 
risty some altar-fittings of elaborately worked 
Cordovan leather, a triptych which is dated 
1 518, some brilliant glass of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, and in the nave a Renaissance organ-case 

294 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

which encloses an organ of the early sixteenth 
century. 

Near by is Mont St. Guillaume (2,686 
metres), on whose heights is a sanctuaire fre- 
quented by pilgrims from round about the 
whole valley of the Durance. 

From " Quentin Durward," one recalls the 
great devotion of the Dauphin of France — 
Louis XI. — for the statue of Notre Dame 
d'Embrun. 



295 



XXIX 

NOTRE DAME DE L'ASSOMPTION DE GAP 

Gap is an ancient and most attractive little 
city of the Maritime Alps, of something less 
than ten thousand inhabitants. 

Its cathedral is also the parish church, which 
suggests that the city is not especially devout. 

The chapter of the cathedral consists of 
eight canons, who, considering that the spiri- 
tual life of the entire Department of the 
Hautes-Alpes — some hundred and fifty thou- 
sand souls — is in their care, must have a very 
busy time of it. 

St. Demetrius, the friend of St. John the 
Evangelist, has always been regarded as the 
first apostle and bishop of the diocese. He 
came from Rome to Gaul in the reign of 
Claudian, and began his work of evangeliza- 
tion in the environs of Vienne under St. Cres- 
cent, the disciple of St. Paul. From Vienne 
Demetrius came immediately to Gap and es- 
tablished the diocese here. 

296 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Numerous conversions were made and the 
Church quickly gained adherents, but perse- 
cution was yet rife, as likewise was supersti- 
tion, and the priests were denounced to the 
governors of the province, who forthwith put 
them to death in true barbaric fashion. 

Amid these inflictions, however, and the 
later Protestant persecutions in Dauphine, the 
diocese grew to great importance, and endures 
to-day as a sufifragan of Aix, Aries, and 
Embrun. 

The Eglise de Gap has even yet the good 
fortune to possess personal reliques of her first 
bishop, and accordingly displays them with 
due pride and ceremony on his jour de fete, 
the 26th October of each year. Says a willing 
but unknowing French writer: '' Had De- 
metrius — who came to Gap in the first cen- 
tury — any immediate successors? That we 
cannot say. It is a period of three hundred 
years which separates his tenure from that of 
St. Constantine, the next prelate of whom the 
records tell." 

Three other dioceses of the former ecclesi- 
astical province have been suppressed, and 
Gap alone has lived to exert its tiny sphere of 
influence upon the religious life of the present 
day. 

297 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The history of Gap has been largely identi- 
fied with the Protestant cause in Dauphine. 
There is, in the Prefecture, a monument to 
the Due de Lesdiguieres — Frangoise de 
Bonne — who, from the leadership of the 
Protestants went over to the Roman faith, 
in consideration of his being given the rank 
of Connetable de France. Why the mere fact 
of his apostasy should have been a sufficient 
and good reason for this aggrandizement, it 
is difficult to realize in this late day; though 
we know of a former telegraph messenger 
who became a count. 

Another reformer, Guillaume Farel, was 
born and lived at Gap. '^ He preached his 
first sermon," says History, " at the mill of 
Buree, and his followers soon drove the Cath- 
olics from the place; when he himself took 
possession of the pulpits of the town." 

From all this dissension from the Roman 
faith — though it came comparatively late 
in point of time — rose the apparent apathy 
for church-building which resulted in the 
rather inferior cathedral at Gap. 

No account of this unimportant church edi- 
fice could possibly be justly coloured with en- 
thusiasm. It is not wholly a mean structure, 
but it is unworthy of the great activities of 

298 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the religious devotion of the past, and has no 
pretence to architectural worth, nor has it 
any of the splendid appointments which are 
usually associated with the seat of a bishop's 
throne. 

Notre Dame de TAssomption is a modern 
edifice in the style Romano-Gothique , and its 
construction, though elaborate both inside and 
out, is quite unappealing. 

This is the more to be marvelled at, in that 
the history of the diocese is so full of incident; 
so far, in fact, in advance of what the tangible 
evidences would indicate. 



299 



XXX 

NOTRE DAME DE VENCE 

Vence, — the ancient Roman city of Ven- 
tium, — with five other dioceses of the eccle- 
siastical province of Embrun, was suppressed 
— as the seat of a bishop — in 1790. It had 
been a suffragan bishopric of Embrun since 
its foundation by Eusebe in the fourth cen- 
tury. 

The ancient cathedral of Notre Dame is 
supposed to show traces of workmanship of 
the sixth, tenth, twelfth, and fifteenth cen- 
turies, but, excepting that of the latter era, 
it will be difficult for the casual observer to 
place the distinctions of style. 

The whole ensemble is of grim appearance ; 
so much so that one need not hesitate to place 
it well down in the ranks of the church-build- 
er's art, and, either from poverty of purse or 
purpose, It is quite undistinguished. 

In its interior there are a few features of 
unusual remark: an ancient sarcophagus, 

300 



The CatJiednils of Sotitherii France 

called that of St. Veran; a retable of the six- 
teenth century; some rather good paintings, 
by artists apparently unknown; and a series 
of fifty-one fifteenth-century choir-stalls of 
quite notable excellence, and worth more as 
an expression of artistic feeling than all the 
other features combined. 

The only distinction as to constructive fea- 
tures is the fact that there are no transepts, 
and that the aisles which surround the nave 
are doubled. 



301 



XXXI 

CATHEDRALE DE SION 

The small city of Sion, the capital of the 
Valais, looks not unlike the pictures one sees 
in sixteenth-century historical works. 

It is brief, confined, and unobtrusive. It 
was so in feudal times, when most of its archi- 
tecture partook of the nature of a stronghold. 
It is so to-day, because little of modernity has 
come into its life. 

The city, town, or finally village — for it 
is hardly more, from its great lack of activity 
— lies at the foot of three lofty, isolated emi- 
nences. A great conflagration came to Sion 
early in the nineteenth century which resulted 
in a new lay-out of the town and one really 
fine modern thoroughfare, though be it still 
remarked its life is yet medieval. 

Upon one of these overshadowing heights 
is the present episcopal residence, and on an- 
other the remains of a fortress — formerly the 
stronghold of the bishops of Sion. On this 

302 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

height of La Valere stands the very ancient 
church of Ste. Catherine (with a tenth or 
eleventh-century choir), occupying, it is said, 
the site of a Roman temple. 

In the mid-nineteenth century the Jesuits 
gained a considerable influence here and con- 
gregated in large numbers. 

The city was the ancient Sedanum, and in 
olden time the bishop bore also the title of 
" Prince of the Holy Empire." The power 
of this prelate was practically unlimited, and 
ordinances of state were, as late as the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century, made in his 
name, and his arms formed the embellishments 
of the public buildings and boundary posts. 

Rudolf III., king of Burgundy, from the 
year looo, made them counts of Valais. 

St. Theodule was the first bishop of Sion, 
— in the fourth century, — and is the patron 
of the diocese. 

In 1070 the bishop of Sion came to Eng- 
land as papal legate to consecrate Walkelin 
to the see of Winchester. 

In ii;i6 Bishop Schinner came to England 
to procure financial aid from Henry VIII. 
to carry on war against France. 

The cathedral in the lower town Is a fif- 
teenth-century work which ought — had the 

303 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

manner of church-building here in this iso- 
lated region kept pace with the outside world 
— to be Renaissance in style. In reality, it 
suggests nothing but the earliest of Gothic, 
and, in parts, even Romanesque; therefore 
it is to be remarked, if not admired. 

Near by is the modern episcopal residence. 

The records tell of the extraordinary beauty 
and value of the tresor, which formerly be- 
longed to the cathedral : an ivory pyx, a 
reliquary, and a magnificent manuscript of 
the Gospels — given by Charles the Great to 
St. Maurice, and acquired by the town in 
the fourteenth century. This must at some 
former time have been dispersed, as no trace 
of it is known to-day. 

Sion was formerly a suffragan bishopric 
of Tarantaise, which in turn has become to- 
day a suffragan of Chambery. 



304 



XXXII 

ST. PAUL TROIS CHATEAUX 

St. Paul Trois Chateaux is a very old 
settlement As a bishopric it was known an- 
ciently as Tricastin, and dates from the second 
century. St. Restuit was its first bishop. It 
was formerly the seat of the ancient Roman 
colony of Augusta Tricastinorum. Tradition 
is responsible for the assertion that St. Paul 
was the first prelate of the diocese, and being 
born blind was cured by Jesus Christ. This 
holy man, after having recovered his sight, 
took the name of Restuit, under which name 
he is still locally honoured. One of his suc- 
cessors erected to his honour, in the fourth 
century, a chapel and an altar. These, of 
course have disappeared — hence we have 
only tradition, which, to say the least, and 
the most, is, in this case, quite legendary. 

The city was devastated in the fifth cen- 
tury by the Vandals; in 1736 by the Saracens; 

305 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

and taken and retaken by the Protestants and 
Catholics in the fourteenth century. 

As a bishopric the '' Tricastin city " com- 
prised but thirty-six parishes, and in the re- 
arrangement attendant upon the Revolution 
was suppressed altogether. Ninety-five bish- 
ops in all had their seats here up to the time 
of suppression. Certainly the religious his- 
tory of this tiny city has been most vigorous 
and active. 

The city conserves to-day somewhat of its 
ancient birthright, and is a picturesque and 
romantic spot, in which all may tarry awhile 
amid its tortuous streets and the splendid re- 
mains of its old-time builders. Few do drop 
off, even, in their annual rush southward, in 
season or out, and the result is that St Paul 
Trois Chateaux is to-day a delightfully " old 
world " spot in the most significant meaning 
of the phrase. 

Of course the habitant still refers to the 
seat of the former bishop's throne as a cathe- 
dral, and it is with pardonable pride that he 
does so. 

This precious old eleventh and twelfth-cen- 
tury church is possessed of as endearing and 
interesting an aspect as the city itself. It has 
been restored in recent times, but is much 

306 



TPie Cathedrals of Southern France 

hidden by the houses which hover around its 
walls. It has a unique portal which opens 
between two jutting columns whose shafts 
uphold nothing — not even capitals. 

In fact, the general plan of the cathedral 
follows that of the Latin cross, though in this 
instance it is of rather robust proportions. 
The transepts, which are neither deep nor 
wide, are terminated with an apse, as is also 
the choir, which depends, for its embellish- 
ments, upon the decorative effect produced 
by eight Corinthian columns. 

The interior, the nave in particular, is of 
unusual height for a not very grand structure; 
perhaps eighty feet. Its length is hardly 
greater. 

The orders of columns rise vaultwards, 
surmounted by a simple entablature. These 
are perhaps not of the species that has come 
to be regarded as good form in Christian ar- 
chitecture, but which, for many reasons, have 
found their way into church-building, both 
before and since the rise of Gothic. 

Under a triforium, in blind, is a sculptured 
drapery; again a feature more pagan than 
Christian, but which is here more pleasing 
than when usually found in such a false rela- 
tion. 

307 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Both these details are in imitation of the 
antique, and, since they date from long before 
the simulating of pseudo-classical details 
became a mere fad, are the more interest- 
ing and valuable as an art-expression of the 
time. 

For the rest, this one-time cathedral is un- 
common and most singular in all its parts, 
though nowhere of very great inherent beauty. 

An ancient gateway bears a statue of the 
Virgin. It was the gift of a former Arch- 
bishop of Paris to the town of his birth. 

An ancient Dominican convent is now the 
Ecole Normale des Petits Freres de Marie. 
Within its wall have recently been discovered 
a valuable mosaic work, and a table or altar 
of carved stone. 

In the suburbs of the town have also re- 
cently been found much beautiful Roman 
work of a decorative nature; a geometric 
parchment in mosaic; a superb lamp, in 
worked bronze; a head of Mercury (now in 
the Louvre), and much treasure which would 
make any antiquarian literally leap for joy, 
were he but present when they were un- 
earthed. 

Altogether the brief resume should make 
for a desire to know more of this ancient city 

308 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

whose name, even, is scarcely known to those 
much-travelled persons who cross and recross 
France in pursuit of the pleasures of conven- 
tion alone. 



309 



PART IV 
The Mediterranemi Coast 



INTRODUCTORY 

The Mediterranean shore of the south of 
France, that delectable land which fringes 
the great tideless sea, bespeaks the very spirit 
of history and romance, of Christian fervour, 
and of profane riot and bloodshed. 

Its ancient provinces, — Lower Languedoc, 
the Narbonensis of Gaul; Provence, the most 
glorious and golden of all that went to make 
up modern France, — the mediaeval capital 
of King Rene, Aix-en-Provence, and the com- 
mercial capital of the Phoceans (559 B.C.), 
Massilia, all combine in a wealth of storied 
lore which is inexhaustible. 

The tide of latter-day travel descends the 
Rhone to Marseilles, turns eastward to the 
conventional pleasures of the Riviera, and 
utterly neglects the charms of La Crau, St. 
Remy, Martiques, and Aigues-Mortes; or 
the more progressive, though still ancient 

3^3 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

cathedral cities of Montpellier, Beziers, Nar- 
bonne, or Perpignan. 

There is no question but that the French 
Riviera is, in winter, a land of sunshiny days, 
cool nights, and the more or the less rapid 
life of fashion. Which of these attractions 
induces the droves of personally-, semi-, and 
non-conducted tourists to journey thither, 
with the first advent of northern rigour, is 
doubtful; it is probably, however, a combi- 
nation of all three. 

It is a beautiful strip of coast-line from 
Marseilles to Mentone, and its towns and 
cities are most attractively placed. But a 
sojourn there " in the season," amid the luxury 
of a '' palace-hotel," or the bareness of a medi- 
ocre pension, is a thing to be dreaded. Seek- 
ers after health and pleasure are supposed to 
be wonderfully recouped by the process; but 
this is more than doubtful. Vice is rarely 
attractive, but it is always made attractive, 
and weak tea and pain de manage in a Riviera 
boarding-house are no more stimulating than 
elsewhere; hence the many virtues of this sun- 
lit land are greatly nullified. 

" A peculiarity of the Riviera is that each 
" of the prominent watering-places possesses 
" a tutelary deity of our own. (Modest this!) 

314 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

" Thus, for instance, no visitor to Cannes is 
'* allowed to forget the name of Lord 
^' Brougham, while the interest at Beaulieu 
" and Cap Martin centres around another 
'^ great English statesman, Lord Salisbury. 
" Cap d'Antibes has (or had) for its genius 
" loci Grant Allen, and Valescure is chiefly 
" concerned with Mrs. Humphry Ward and 
" Mrs. Oliphant." 

This quotation is, perhaps, enough to make 
the writer's point here: Why go to the 
Riviera to think of Lord Brougham, long 
since dead and gone, any more than to Monte 
Carlo to be reminded of the unfortunate end 
which happened to the great system for 
" breaking the bank " of Lord , a nine- 
teenth-century nobleman of notoriety — if not 
of fame? 

The charm of situation of the Riviera is 
great, and the interest awakened by its many 
reminders of the historied past is equally so; 
but, with regard to its architectural remains, 
the most ready and willing temperament will 
be doomed to disappointment. 

The cathedral cities of the Riviera are not 
of irresistible attraction as shrines of the 
Christian faith; but they have much else. 



Z'^'i^ 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

either within their confines or in the immedi- 
ate neighbourhood, which will go far to make 
up for the deficiency of their religious monu- 
ments. 

It is not that the architectural remains of 
churches of another day, and secular estab- 
lishments, are wholly wanting. Far from it; 
Frejus, Toulon, Grasse, and Cannes are 
possessed of delightful old churches, though 
they are not of ranking greatness, or splen- 
dour. 

Still the fact remains that, of themselves, the 
natural beauties of the region and the heritage 
of a historic past are not enough to attract the 
throngs which, for any one of a dozen sus- 
pected reasons, annually, from November to 
March, flock hither to this range of towns, 
which extends from Hyeres and St. Raphael, 
on the west, to Bordighera and Ospadeletti, 
just over the Italian border, on the east. 

It is truly historic ground, this; perhaps 
more visibly impressed upon the mind and 
imagination than any other in the world, if 
we except the Holy Land itself. 

Along this boundary were the two main 
routes, by land and by water, through which 
the warlike and civil institutions of Rome first 
made their way into Gaul, conquered it, and 

316 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

impressed thereon indelibly for five hundred 
years the mighty power which their ambition 
urged forward. 

At Cimiez, a suburb of Nice, they have left 
a well-preserved amphitheatre; at Antibes 
the remains of Roman towers; Villefranche 
— the port of Nice — was formerly a Roman 
port; Frejus, the ioxmtv Forum Julii, has re- 
mains of its ancient harbour, its city walls, an 
amphitheatre, a gateway, and an arch, and, 
at some distance from the city, the chief of all 
neighbouring remains, an aqueduct, the crum- 
bling stones of which can be traced for many 
miles. 

Above the promontory of Monaco, where 
the Alps abruptly meet the sea, stands the tiny 
village of La Turbie, some nineteen hundred 
feet above the waters of the sparklingly bril- 
liant Mediterranean. Here stands that vener- 
able ruined tower, the great Trophcea Au- 
gusti of the Romans, now stayed and strutted 
by modern masonry. It commemorates the 
Alpine victories of the first of the emper- 
ors, and overlooks both Italy and France. 
Stripped to-day of the decorations and sculp- 
tures which once graced its walls, it stands as 
a reminder of the first splendid introduction 



317 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of the luxuriant architecture of Rome into the 
precincts of the Western Empire. 

Here it may be recalled that sketching, even 
from the hilltops, is a somewhat risky pro- 
ceeding for the artist. The surrounding emi- 
nences — as would be likely so near the Ital- 
ian border — are frequently capped with a 
fortress, and occupied by a small garrison, the 
sole duty of whose commandant appears to be 
" heading off," or worse, those who would 
make a picturesque note of the environment 
of this ci-devant Roman stronghold. The 
process of transcribing '' literary notes " is 
looked upon with equal suspicion, or even 
greater disapproval, in that — in English — 
they are not so readily translated as is even a 
bad drawing. So the admonition is here ad- 
visedly given for '' whom it may concern." 

From the Rhone eastward, Marseilles alone 
has any church of a class worthy to rank with 
those truly great. Its present cathedral of Ste. 
Marie-Majeure assuredly takes, both as to its 
plan and the magnitude on which it has been 
carried out, the rank of a masterwork of archi- 
tecture. It is a modern cathedral, but it is 
a grand and imposing basilica, after the By- 
zantine manner. 

Westward, if we except Beziers, where 

318 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

there is a commanding cathedral; Narbonne, 
where the true sky-pointing Gothic is to be 
found; and Perpignan, where there is a very 
ancient though peculiarly disposed cathedral, 
there are no really grand cathedral churches 
of this or any other day. On the whole, how- 
ever, all these cities are possessed of a subtle 
charm of manner and environment which 
tell a story peculiarly their own. 

Foremost among these cities of Southern 
Gaul, which have perhaps the greatest and 
most appealing interest for the traveller, are 
Carcassonne and Aigues-Mortes. 

Each of these remarkable reminders of days 
that are gone is unlike anything elsewhere. 
Their very decay and practical desertion make 
for an interest which would otherwise be un- 
attainable. 

Aigues-Mortes has no cathedral, nor ever 
had; but Carcassonne has a very beautiful, 
though small, example in St. Nazaire, treated 
elsewhere in this book. 

Both Aigues-Mortes and Carcassonne are 
the last, and the greatest, examples of the fa- 
mous walled and fortified cities of the Middle 
Ages. 

Aigues-Mortes itself is a mere dead thing 
of the marshes, which once held ten thousand 

319 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

souls, and witnessed all the pomp and glitter 
which attended upon the embarking of Louis 
IX. on his chivalrous, but ill-starred, ventures 
to the African coasts. 

'' Here was a city built by the whim of a 
king — the last of the Royal Crusaders." To- 
day it is a coffin-like city with perhaps a 
couple of thousand pallid, shaking mortals, 
striving against the marsh-fever, among the 
ruined houses, and within the mouldering 
walls of an ancient Gothic burgh. 




The Ramparts of Aigues - Mortes 



320 




6*/. Sauveur d'^Aix 



II 

ST. SAUVEUR D'AIX 

AlX, the former capital of Provence, one of 
the most famous ancient provinces, the early 
seat of wealth and civilization, and the native 
land of the poetry and romance of mediaeval- 
ism, was the still more ancient Aqiice Sextice 
of the Romans — so named for the hot springs 
of the neighbourhood. It was their oldest col- 
ony in Gaul, and was founded by Sextius Cal- 
vinus in B. C. 123. 

In King Rene's time, — ^^ le bon roi'' died 
at Aix in 1480, — Aix-en-Provence was more 
famous than ever as a '' gay capital," where 
" mirth and song and much good wine " 
reigned, if not to a degenerate extent, at least 
to the full expression of liberty. 

In 1481, just subsequent to Rene's death, the 
province was annexed to the Crown, and fifty 
years later fell into the hands of Charles. V., 
who was proclaimed King of Aries and Pro- 
vence. This monarch's reign here was of short 

3^3 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

duration, and he evacuated the city after two 
months' tenure. 

During all this time the church of Aix, 
from the foundation of the archbishopric by 
St. Maxine in the first century (as stated 
rather doubtfully in the '' Gallia Christi- 
ania''), ever advanced hand in hand with the 
mediaeval gaiety and splendour that is now 
past. 

Who ever goes to Aix now? Not many 
Riviera tourists even, and not many, unless 
they are on a mission bent, will cross the Rhone 
and the Durance when such appealingly at- 
tractive cities as Aries, Avignon, and Nimes 
lie on the direct pathway from north to 
south. 

Formerly the see was knov/n as the Province 
of Aix. To-day it is known as Aix, Aries, 
and Embrun, and covers the Department of 
Bouches-du-Rhone, with the exception of 
Marseilles, which is a suffragan bishopric of 
itself. 

The chief ecclesiastical monuments of Aix 
are the cathedral of St. Sauveur, with its most 
unusual baptistere; the church of St. Jean-de- 
Malte of the fourteenth century; and the com- 
paratively modern early eighteenth-century 
church of La Madeleine, with a fine " Annun- 

324 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ciation " confidently attributed by local ex- 
perts to Albrecht Diirer. 

The cathedral of St. Sauveur is, in part, an 
eleventh-century church. The portions re- 
maining of this era are not very extensive, but 
they do exist, and the choir, which was added 
in the thirteenth century, made the first ap- 
proach to a completed structure. In the next 
century the choir was still more elaborated, 
and the tower and the southern aisle of the 
nave added. This nave is, therefore, the orig- 
inal nave, as the northern aisle was not added 
until well into the seventeenth century. 

The west fagade contains a wonderful, 
though non-contemporary, door and doorway 
in wood and stone of the early sixteenth cen- 
tury. This doorway is in two bays, divided 
by a pier, on which is superimposed a statue 
of the Virgin and Child, framed by a light 
garland of foliage and fruits. Above are 
twelve tiny statuettes of Sibylles or the theo- 
logical virtues placed in two rows. The lower 
range of the archivolt is divided by pilasters 
bearing the symbols of the Evangelists, deeply 
cut arabesques of the Genii, and the four 
greater prophets — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
and Daniel. 

Taken together, these late sculptures of the 

3^5 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

early sixteenth century form an unusually 
mixed lot; but their workmanship and dis- 
position are pleasing and of an excellence 
which in many carvings of an earlier date is 
often lacking. 

The interior shows early ^' pointed " and 
simple round arches, with pilasters and pedi- 
ment which bear little relation to Gothic, and 
are yet not Romanesque of the conventional 
variety. These features are mainly not sug- 
gestive of the Renaissance either, though work 
of this style crops out, as might be expected, 
in the added north aisle of the nave. 

The transepts, too, which are hardly to be 
remarked from the outside, — being much 
hemmed about by the surrounding buildings, 
— also indicate their Renaissance origin. 

The real embellishments of the interior are: 
a triptych — " The Burning Bush," with por- 
traits of King Rene, Queen Jeanne de Laval, 
and others ; another of ^' The Annunciation ; " 
a painting of St. Thomas, by a sixteenth-cen- 
tury Flemish artist; and some sixteenth-cen- 
tury tapestries. None of these features, while 
acceptable enough as works of art, compare 
in worth or novelty with the tiny baptistere, 
which is claimed as of the sixth century. 

This is an unusual work in Gaul, the only 

2^6 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

other examples being at Poitiers and Le Puy. 
It resembles in plan and outline its more fa- 
mous contemporary at Ravenna, and shows 
eight antique columns, from a former temple 
to Apollo, with dark shafts and lighter capi- 
tals. The dome has a modern stucco finish, 
little in keeping with the general tone and 
purport of this accessory. The cloister of St. 
Sauveur, in the Lombard style, is very curi- 
ous, with its assorted twisted and plain col- 
umns, some even knotted. The origin of its 
style is again bespoke in certain of the round- 
headed arches. Altogether, as an accessory 
to the cathedral, if to no other extent, this 
Lombard detail is forceful and interesting. 



327 



Ill 

ST. REPARATA DE NICE 

" What would you, then ? I say it is most engaging, 
in winter when the strangers are here, and all work day 
and night ; but it is a much better place in summer, when 
one can take their ease." 

— Paul ArI:ne. 

Whatever may be the attractions of Nice 
for the travelled person, they certainly do not 
lie in or about its cathedral. The guide-books 
call it simply '' the principal ecclesiastical edi- 
fice ... of no great interest," which is an 
apt enough qualification. 

In a book which professes to treat of the 
special subject of cathedral churches, some- 
thing more is expected, if only to define the 
reason of the lack of appealing interest. 

One might say with the Abbe Bourasse, — 
who wrote of St. Louis de Versailles, — " It 
is cold, unfeeling, and without life;" or he 
might dismiss it with a few words of lukewarm 

328 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

praise, which would be even less satisfy- 
ing. 

More specifically the observation might be 
passed that the lover of churches will hardly 
find enough to warrant even passing consid- 
eration on the entire Riviera. 

This last is in a great measure true, though 
much of the incident of history and romance 
is woven about what — so far as the church- 
lover is concerned — may be termed mere 
" tourist points." 

At all events, he who makes the round, from 
Marseilles to San Remo in Italy, must to no 
small extent subordinate his love of ecclesias- 
tical art and — as do the majority of visitors 
— plunge into a whirl of gaiety (sic) as con- 
ventional and unsatisfying as are most ful- 
some, fleeting pleasures. 

The sensation is agreeable enough to most 
of us, for a time at least, but the forced and 
artificial gaiety soon palls, and he who puts 
it all behind him, and strikes inland to Aix 
and Embrun and the romantically disposed 
little cathedral towns of the valley of the Du- 
rance, will come once again into an architec- 
tural zone more in comport with the subject 
suggested by the title of this book. 

It is curious to note that, with the exception 

3^9 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of Marseilles and Aix, scarce one of the suf- 
fragan dioceses of the ancient ecclesiastical 
province of Aix, Aries, and Embrun is pos- 
sessed of a cathedral of the magnitude which 
we are wont to associate with the churchly 
dignity of a bishop. 

St. Reparata de Nice is dismissed as above; 
that of Antibes was early transferred or com- 
bined with that of Grasse; Grasse itself en- 
dured for a time — from 1245 onward — but 
was suppressed in 1790; Glandeve, Senez, 
and Riez were combined with Digne; while 
Frejus has become subordinate to Toulon, 
though it shares episcopal dignity with that 
city. 

In spite of these changes and the apparently 
inexplicable tangle of the limits of jurisdiction 
which has spread over this entire region, re- 
ligion has, as might be inferred from a study 
of the movement of early Christianity in Gaul, 
ever been prominent in the life of the people, 
and furthermore is of very long standing. 

The first bishop of Nice was Amantius, 
who came in the fourth century. With what 
effect he laboured and with what real effect 
his labours resulted, history does not state with 
minutiae. The name first given to the diocese 
was Cemenelium. 

330 



The Cathedrals of Soitthem France 

In 1802 the diocese of Nice was allied with 
that of Aix, but in the final readjustment its 
individuality became its own possession once 
more, and it is now a bishopric, a sufifragan 
of Marseilles. 

As to architectural splendour, or even 
worth, St. Reparata de Nice has none. It is 
a poor, mean fabric in the Italian style; quite 
unsuitable in its dimensions to even the proper 
exploitation of any beauties that the style of 
the Renaissance may otherwise possess. 

The general impression that it makes upon 
one is that it is but a makeshift or substitute 
for something more pretentious which is to 
come. 

The church dates from 1650 only, and is 
entirely unworthy as an expression of relig- 
ious art or architecture. The structure itself 
is bare throughout, and what decorative em- 
bellishments there are — though numerous — • 
are gaudy, after the manner of stage tinsel. 



ZZ^ 



IV 

STE. MARIE MAJEURE DE TOULON 

The episcopal dignity of Toulon is to-day 
shared with Frejus, whereas, at the founding 
of the diocese, Toulon stood alone as a bish- 
opric in the ecclesiastical province of Aries. 
This was in the fifth century. When the re- 
adjustment came, after the Revolution, the 
honour was divided with the neighbouring 
coast town of Frejus. 

In spite of the fact that the cathedral here 
is of exceeding interest, Toulon is most often 
thought of as the chief naval station of France 
in the Mediterranean. From this fact signs 
of the workaday world are for ever thrusting 
themselves before one. 

As a seaport, Toulon is admirably situated 
and planned, but the contrast between the 
new and old quarters of the town and the 
frowning fortifications, docks, and storehouses 
is a jumble of utilitarian accessories which 

33'^ 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

does not make for the slightest artistic or aes- 
thetic interest. 

Ste. Marie Majeure is a Romanesque edi- 
fice of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Its 
fagade is an added member of the seventeenth 
century, and the belfry of the century follow- 
ing. The church to-day is of some consid- 
erable magnitude, as the work of the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries compre- 
hended extensive enlargements. 

As to its specific style, it has been called 
Provengal as well as Romanesque. It is 
hardly one or the other, as the pure types 
known elsewhere are considered, but rather 
a blend or transition between the two. 

The edifice underwent a twelfth-century 
restoration, which doubtless was the oppor- 
tunity for incorporating with the Romanesque 
fabric certain details which we have come 
since to know as Provengal. 

During the Revolution the cathedral suf- 
fered much despoliation, as was usual, and 
only came through the trial in a somewhat 
imperfect and poverty-stricken condition. 
Still, it presents to-day some considerable 
splendour, if not actual magnificence. 

Its nave is for more reasons than one quite 
remarkable. It has a length of perhaps a 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

hundred and sixty feet, and a width scarcely 
thirty-five, which gives an astonishing effect 
of narrowness, but one which bespeaks a cer- 
tain grace and lightness nevertheless — or 
would, were its constructive elements of a 
little lighter order. 

In a chapel to the right of the choir is a 
fine modern reredos, and throughout there 
are many paintings of acceptable, if not great, 
worth. The pulpit, by a native of Toulon, 
is usually admired, but is a modern work 
which in no way compares with others of its 
kind seen along the Rhine, and indeed 
throughout Germany. One of the principal 
features which decorate the interior is a tab- 
ernacle by Puget; while an admirable sculp- 
tured ^^ Jehovah and the Angels " by Veyrier, 
and a " Virgin " by Canova — which truly is 
not a great work — complete the list of artis- 
tic accessories. 

The first bishop of Toulon, in the fifth cen- 
tury, was one Honore. 



334 



ST. ETIENNE DE FREJUS 

The ancient episcopal city of Frejus has 
perhaps more than a due share of the attrac- 
tions for the student and lover of the historic 
past. It is one of the most ancient cities of 
Provence. Its charm of environment, people, 
and much else that it ofifers, on the surface 
or below, are as irresistible a galaxy as one 
can find in a small town of scarce three thou- 
sand inhabitants. And Frejus is right on the 
beaten track, too, though it is not apparent 
that the usual run of pleasure-loving, tennis- 
playing, and dancing-party species of tourist 
— at a small sum per head, all included — 
ever stop here en route to the town's more 
fashionable Riviera neighbours — at least 
they do not en masse — as they wing their 
way to the more delectable pleasures of 
naughty Nice or precise and proper Mentone. 

The establishment of a bishopric here is 
somewhat doubtfully given by *' La Gallia 

335 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Christiania^' as having been in the fourth 
century. Coupled with this statement is the 
assertion that the cathedral at Frejus is very 
ancient, and its foundation very obscure; but 
that it was probably built up from the remains 
of a '' primitive temple consecrated to an 
idol." Such, at least, is the information 
gleaned from a French source, which does 
not in any way suggest room for doubt. 

Formerly the religious administration was 
divided amongst a provost, an archdeacon, 
a sacristan, and twelve canons. The diocese 
was suppressed in 1801 and united with that 
of Aix, but was reestablished in 1823 by vir- 
tue of the Concordat of 18 17. To-day the 
diocese divides the honour of archiepiscopal 
dignity with that of Toulon. 

The foundations of St. Etienne are admit- 
tedly those of a pagan temple, but the bulk 
of the main body of the church is of the 
eleventh century. The tower and its spire- 
not wholly beautiful, nor yet in any way un- 
beautiful — are of the period of the ogivale 
prim aire. 

As to style, in so far as St. Etienne differs 
greatly from the early Gothic of convention, 
it is generally designated as Provengal-Ro- 
manesque. It is, however, strangely akin to 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

what we know elsewhere as primitive Gothic, 
and as such it is worthy of remark, situated, 
as it is, here in the land where the pure round- 
arched style is indigenous. 

The portal has a doorway ornamented with 
some indifferent Renaissance sculptures. To 
the left of this doorway is a baptistere con- 
taining a number of granite columns, which, 
judging from their crudeness, must be of gen- 
uine antiquity. 

There is an ancient Gothic cloister, hardly 
embryotic, but still very rudimentary, because 
of the lack of piercings of the arches; pos- 
sibly, though, this is the result of an after- 
thought, as the arched openings appear likely 
enough to have been filled up at some time 
subsequent to the first erection of this feature. 

The bishop's palace is of extraordinary 
magnitude and impressiveness, though of no 
very great splendour. In its fabric are in- 
corporated a series of Gallo-Roman pilasters, 
and it has the further added embellishment 
of a pair of graceful twin fourelles. 

The Roman remains throughout the city 
are numerous and splendid, and, as a former 
seaport, founded by Caesar and enlarged by 
Augustus, the city was at a former time even 
more splendid than its fragments might indi- 

337 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

cate. To-day, owing to the building up of 
the foreshore, and the alluvial deposits 
washed down by the river Argens, the town 
is perhaps a mile from the open sea. 




Detail of Doorway of the 
Archibishop's Palace^ Frejus 



338 



r 


















VI 



EGLISE DE GRASSE 



GrassE is more famed for its picturesque 
situation and the manufacture of perfumery 
than it is for its one-time cathedral, which 
is but a simple and uninteresting twelfth- 
century church, whose only feature of note 
is a graceful doorway in the pointed style. 

The diocese of Grasse formerly had juris- 
diction over Antibes, whose bishop — St. Ar- 
mentaire — ruled in the fourth century. 

The diocese of Grasse — in the province 
of Embrun — did not come into being, how- 
ever, until 1245, when Raimond de Villeneuve 

339 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

was made its first bishop. The see was sup- 
pressed in 1790. 

There are, as before said, no accessories of 
great artistic worth in the Eglise de Grasse, 
and the lover of art and architecture will 
perforce look elsewhere. In the Hopital are 
three paintings attributed to Rubens, an " Ex- 
altation," a " Crucifixion," and a " Crowning 
of Thorns." They may or may not be genuine 
works by the master; still, nothing points to 
their lack of authenticity, except the omission 
of all mention thereof in most accounts which 
treat of this artist's work. 



340 



VII 

ANTIBES 

Cap d'AnTIBES, on the Golfe Jouan, is one 
of those beauty-spots along the Mediterranean 
over which sentimental rhapsody has ever 
lent, if not a glamour which is artificial, at 
least one which is purely aesthetic. 

One must not deny it any reputation of this 
nature which it may possess, and indeed, with 
St. Raphael and Hyeres, it shares with many 
another place along the French Riviera a 
popularity as great, perhaps, as if it were the 
possessor of even an extraordinarily beautiful 
cathedral. 

The churchly dignity of Antibes has de- 
parted long since, though its career as a 
former bishopric — in the province of Aix 
— was not brief, as time goes. It began in 
the fourth century with St. Armentaire, and 
endured intermittently until the twelfth cen- 
tury, when the see was combined with that 
of Grasse, and the ruling dignity transferred 
to that place. 

341 



VIII 

STE. MARIE MAJEURE DE MARSEILLES 

" These brown men of Marseilles, who sing as they 
bend at their oars, are Greeks." 

— Clovis Hughes. 

Marseilles is modern and commercial; 
but Marseilles is also ancient, and a centre 
from which have radiated, since the days of 
the Greeks, much power and influence. 

It is, too, for a modern city, — which it is 
to the average tourist, — wonderfully pic- 
turesque, and shows some grand architectural 
effects, both ancient and modern. 

The Palais de Long Champs is an archi- 
tectural grouping which might have dazzled 
luxurious Rome itself. The Chamber of 
Commerce, with its decorations by Puvis de 
Chavannes, is a structure of the first rank; 
the Cannebiere is one of those few great busi- 
ness thoroughfares which are truly imposing; 
while the docks, shipping, and hotels, are all 

342 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of that preeminent magnitude which we are 
wont to associate only with a great capital. 

As to its churches, its old twelfth-century 
cathedral remains to-day a mere relic of its 
former dignity. 

It is a reminder of a faith and a power that 
still live in spite of the attempts of the world 




The Old Cathedral^ Marseilles 

of progress to live it down, and has found its 
echo in the present-day cathedral of Ste. 
Marie Majeure, one of the few remarkably 
successful attempts at the designing of a great 
church in modern times. The others are the 
new Westminster Roman Catholic Cathedral 
in London, the projected cathedral of St. 

345 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

John the Divine in New York, and Trinity 
Church in Boston. 

As an exemplification of church-building 
after an old-time manner adapted to modern 
needs, called variously French-Romanesque, 
Byzantine, and, by nearly every expert who 
has passed comment upon it, by some special 
nomenclature of his own, the cathedral at 
Marseilles is one of those great churches 
which will live in the future as has St. Marc's 
at Venice in the past. 

Its material is a soft stone of two contrast- 
ing varieties, — the green being from the 
neighbourhood of Florence, and the white 
known as pierre de Calissant, — laid in alter- 
nate courses. Its deep sunken portal, with its 
twin flanking Byzantine towers, dominates the 
old part of the city, lying around about the 
water-front, as do few other churches, and no 
cathedrals, in all the world. 

It stands a far more impressive and inspir- 
ing sentinel at the water-gate of the city than 
does the ludicrously fashioned modern " sail- 
ors' church " of Notre Dame de la Gard, 
which is perched in unstable fashion on a 
pinnacle of rock on the opposite side of the 
harbour. 

This " curiosity " — for it is hardly more 

346 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

— is reached by a cable-lift or funicular rail- 
way, which seems principally to be conducted 
for the delectation of those winter birds of 
passage yclept '' Riviera tourists." 

The true pilgrim, the sailor who leaves a 
votive offering, or his wife or sweetheart, who 
goes there to pray for his safety, journeys on 
foot by an abrupt, stony road, — as one truly 
devout should. 

This sumptuous cathedral will not please 
every one, but it cannot be denied that it is 
an admirably planned and wonderfully ex- 
ecuted neo-Byzantine work. In size it is 
really vast, though its chief remarkable di- 
mension is its breadth. Its length is four 
hundred and sixty feet. 

At the crossing is a dome which rises to 
one hundred and ninety-seven feet, while two 
smaller ones are at each end of the transept, 
and yet others, smaller still, above the vari- 
ous chapels. 

The general effect of the interior is — as 
might be expected — grandoise. There is an 
immensely wide central nave, flanked by two 
others of only appreciably reduced propor- 
tions. 

Above the side aisles are galleries extending 
to the transepts. 

347 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The decorations of mosaic, glass, and mural 
painting have be^n the work of the foremost 
artists of modern times, and have been long in 
execution. 

The entire period of construction extended 
practically over the last half of the nineteenth 
century. 

The plans w^ere by Leon Vaudoyer, w^ho 
was succeeded by one Esperandieu, and again 
by Henri Revoil. The entire detail work 
may not even yet be presumed to have been 
completed, but still the cathedral stands to- 
day as the one distinct and complete achieve- 
ment of its class within the memory of living 
man. 

The pillars of the nave, so great is their 
number and so just and true their disposi- 
tion, form a really decorative effect in them- 
selves. 

The choir is very long and is terminated 
with a domed apse, with domed chapels radi- 
ating therefrom in a symmetrical and beauti- 
ful manner. 

The episcopal residence is immediately to 
the right of the cathedral, on the Place de la 
Major. 

Marseilles has been the seat of a bishop 
since the days of St. Lazare in the first cen- 

348 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

tury. It was formerly a suffragan of Aries 
in the Province d'Arles, as it is to-day, but 
its jurisdiction is confined to the immediate 
neighbourhood of the city. 



,?49 



IX 

ST. PIERRE D'ALET 

In St. Pierre d'Alet was a former cathe- 
dral of a very early date; perhaps as early 
as the ninth century, though the edifice was 
entirely rebuilt in the eleventh. To-day, even 
this structure — which is not to be wondered 
at — is in ruins. 

There was an ancient abbey here in the 
ninth century, but the bishopric was not 
founded until 13 18, and was suppressed in 
1790. 

The most notable feature of this ancient 
church is the wall which surrounds or forms 
the apside. This quintupled pan is separated 
by four great pillars, in imitation of the Cor- 
inthian order; though for that matter they 
may as well be referred to as genuine antiques 
— which they probably are — and be done 
with it. 

The capitals and the cornice which sur- 
mounts them are richly ornamented with 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

sculptured foliage, and, so far as it goes, the 
whole effect is one of liberality and luxury of 
treatment. 

Immediately beside the ruins of this old- 
time cathedral is the Eglise St. Andre of the 
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 



35^ 



X 

ST. PIERRE DE MONTPELLIER 

La Ville de Montpellier 
" Elle est charmante et douce . . . 
Avec son vast ciel, toujours vibrant et pur, 

Elle est charmante avec ses brunes jeunes filles 
. . . le noir diamant de leurs yeux! " 

— Henri de Bornier. 

Montpellier is seated upon a hill, its foot 
washed by two small and unimportant rivers. 

A sevententh-century Writer has said: 
" This city is not very ancient, though now it 
be the biggest, fairest, and richest in Langue- 
doc, after Toulouse." 

From a passage in the records left by St. 
Bernard, the Abbot of Clairvaux, it is learned 
that there was a school or seminar}^ of physi- 
cians here as early as 1155, and the perfect 
establishment of a university was known to 
have existed just previous to the year 1200. 
This institution was held in great esteem, and 

3S^ 




s 



T. PIERRE 

de MONTPELLIER 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

in importance second only to Paris. To-day 
the present establishment merits like approba- 
tion, and, sheltered in part in the ancient 
episcopal palace, and partly enclosing the 
cathedral of St. Pierre, it has become insep- 
arable from consideration in connection there- 
with. 

The records above referred to have this to 
say concerning the university: " Tho' Physic 
has the Precendence, yet both Parts of the 
Law are taught in one of its Colleges, by Four 
Royal Professors, with the Power of making 
Licentiates and Doctors." Continuing, he 
says: "The ceremony of taking the M. D. 
degree is very imposing; if only the putting 
on and off, seven times, the old gown of the 
famous Rabelais." 

Montpellier was one of '' the towns of se- 
curity " granted by Henry IV. to the Protes- 
tants, but Louis XI IL, through the sugges- 
tions of his cardinals, Richelieu and Mazarin, 
forced them by arms to surrender this place 
of protection. The city was taken after a long 
siege and vigorous defence in 1622. 

Before the foundation of Montpellier, the 
episcopal seat was at Maguelonne, the ancient 
Magalonum of the Romans. The town does 
not exist to-day, and its memory is only per- 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

petuated by the name Villeneuve les Mague- 
lonne, a small hamlet on the bay of that name, 
a short distance from Montpellier. 

The Church had a foothold here in the year 
636, but the ferocity of Saracen hordes utterly 
destroyed all vestiges of the Christian faith in 
their descent upon the city. 

Says the Abbe Bourasse: '' In the eleventh 
century another cathedral was dedicated by 
Bishop Arnaud, and the day was made the 
occasion of a fete, in consideration of the 
restoration of the church, which had been for 
a long time abandoned." 

It seems futile to attempt to describe a 
church which does not exist, and though the 
records of the later cathedral at Maguelonne 
are very complete, it must perforce be passed 
by in favour of its descendant at Montpellier. 

Having obtained the consent of Frangois I., 
the bishop of Maguelonne solicited from the 
pontiff at Rome the privilege of transferring 
the throne. In a bull given in 1536, it was 
decreed that this should be done forthwith. 
Accordingly, the bishop and his chapter 
transferred their dignity to a Benedictine 
monastery at Montpellier, which had been 
founded in 1364 by Pope Urban V. 

The wars of the Protestants desecrated this 

354 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

great church, which, like many others, suf- 
fered greatly from their violence, so much so 
that it was shorn entirely of its riches, its rel- 
iquaries, and much of its decoration. 

The dimensions of this church are not great, 
and its beauties are quite of a comparative 
quality; but for all that it is a most inter- 
esting cathedral. 

The very grim but majestic severity of its 
canopied portal — with its flanking cylin- 
drical pillars, called by the French tourelles 
elances — gives the key-note of it all, and a 
note which many a more perfect church lacks. 

This curious porch well bespeaks the time 
when the Church was both spiritual and mili- 
tant, and ranks as an innovation — though an 
incomplete and possibly imperfect one — in 
the manner of finishing ofif a west fagade. Its 
queer, suspended canopy and slight turreted 
towers are unique; though, for a fact, they 
suggest, in embryo, those lavish Burgundian 
porches; but it is only a suggestion, because of 
the incompleteness and bareness. However, 
this porch is the distinct fragment of the 
cathedral which will appeal to all w^ho come 
into contact therewith. 

The general effect of the interior is even 
more plain than that of the outer walls, and 

3SS 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

is only remarkable because of its fine and 
true proportions of length, breadth, and 
height. 

The triforium is but a suggestion of an 
arcade, supported by black marble columns. 
The clerestory above is diminutive, and the 
window piercings are 'infrequent. At the 
present time the choir is hung with a series of 
curtains of panne — not tapestries in this case. 
The effect is more theatrical than ecclesias- 
tical. 

The architectural embellishments are to- 
day practically nil, but instead one sees 
everywhere large, uninterrupted blank walls 
without decoration of any sort. 

The principal decorations of the southern 
portal are the only relaxation in this other- 
wise simple and austere fabric. Here is an 
elaborately carved tympanum and an orna- 
mented architrave, w^hich suggests that the 
added mellowness of a century or two yet to 
come will grant to it some approach to dis- 
tinction. This portal is by no means an 
insignificant work, but it lacks that ripeness 
which is only obtained by the process of time. 

Three rectangular towers rise to unequal 
heights above the roof, and, like the western 
porch, are bare and primitive, though they 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

would be effective enough could one but get 
an ensemble view that would bring them into 
range. They are singularly unbeautiful, 
however, when compared with their northern 
brethren. 



357 




A«B^- 



XI 



CATHEDRALE D'AGDE 



This tiny Mediterranean city was founded 
originally by the Phoenicians as a commercial 
port, and finally grew, in spite of its diminu- 
tive proportions, to great importance. 

Says an old writer: " Agde is not so very 
big, but it is Rich and Trading-Merchant- 
men can now come pretty near Agde and 
Boats somewhat large enter into the Mouth 
of the River; where they exchange many 
Commodities for the Wines of the Country." 

Agde formerly, as if to emphasize its early 
importance, had its own viscounts, whose 
estates fell to the share of those of Nimes; 

358 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

but in 1 1 87, Bernard Atton, son of a Viscount 
of Nimes, presented to the Bishop of Agde 
the viscounty of the city. Thus, it is seen, a 
certain good-fellowship must have existed 
between the Church and state of a former day. 

Formerly travellers told tales of Agde, 
whereby one might conclude its aspect was 
as dull and gloomy as " Black Angers " of 
King John's time; and from the same source 
we learn of the almost universal use of a dull, 
slate-like stone in the construction of its 
buildings. To-day this dulness is not to be 
remarked. What will strike the observer, 
first and foremost, as being the chief charac- 
teristic, is the castellated ci-devant cathedral 
church. Here is in evidence the blackish 
basalt, or lava rock, to a far greater extent 
than elsewhere in the town. It was a good 
medium for the architect-builder to work in, 
and he produced in this not great or magnifi- 
cent church a truly impressive structure. 

The bishopric was founded in the fifth 
century under St. Venuste, and came to its 
end at the suppression in 1790. Its former 
cathedral is cared for by the Ministere des 
Beaux-Arts as a monument historique. The 
structure was consecrated as early as the 
seventh century, when a completed edifice 

359 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

was built up from the remains of a pagan 
temple, which formerly existed on the 
site. Mostly, however, the work is of the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries, notably the 
massive square tower which, one hundred and 
twenty feet in height, forms a beacon by sea 
and a landmark on shore which no wayfarer 
by ship, road, or rail is likely to miss. . 

A cloister of exceedingly handsome design 
and arrangement is attached to the cathedral, 
where it is said the machicoulis is the most 
ancient known. This feature is also notable in 
the roof-line of the nave, which, with the ex- 
traordinary window piercings and their dis- 
position, heightens still more the suggestion 
of the manner of castle-building of the time. 
The functions of the two edifices were never 
combined, though each — in no small way — 
frequently partook of many of the character- 
istics of the other. 

Aside from this really beautiful cloister, 
and a rather gorgeous, though manifestly 
good, painted altar-piece, there are no other 
noteworthy accessories; and the interest and 
charm of this not really great church lie in 
its aspect of strength and utility as well as its 
environment, rather than in any real aesthetic 
beauty. 

360 







•So 






XII 

ST. NAZAIRE DE BEZIERS 

St. Nazaire DE Beziers is, in its Strongly 
fortified attributes of frowning ramparts and 
well-nigh invulnerable situation, a continua- 
tion of the suggestion that the mediaeval 
church was frequently a stronghold in more 
senses than one. 

The church fabric itself has not the grim- 
ness of power of the more magnificent St. 
Cecile at Albi or Notre Dame at Rodez, but 
their functions have been much the same; 
and here, as at Albi, the ancient episcopal pal- 
ace is duly barricaded after a manner that 
bespeaks, at least, forethought and strategy. 

These fortress-churches of the South seem 
to have been a product of environment as 
much as anything; though on the other hand 
it may have been an all-seeing effort to pro- 
vide for such contingency or emergency as 
might, in those mediaeval times, have sprung 
up anywhere. 

3^3 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

At all events, these proclaimed shelters, 
from whatever persecution or disasters might 
befall, were not only for the benefit of the 
clergy, but for all their constituency; and 
such stronghold as they offered was for the 
shelter, temporary or protracted, of all the 
population, or such of them as could be ac- 
commodated. Surely this was a doubly 
devout and utilitarian object. 

In this section at any rate — the extreme 
south of France, and more particularly to the 
westward of the Bouches-du-Rhone — the 
regional " wars of religion " made some such 
protection necessary; and hence the develop- 
ment of this type of church-building, not only 
with respect to the larger cathedral churches, 
but of a great number of the parish churches 
which were erected during the thirteenth and 
fourteenth centuries. 

The other side of the picture is shown by the 
acts of intolerance on the part of the Church, 
for those who merely differed from them in 
their religious tenets and principles. Fanat- 
ics these outsiders may have been, and perhaps 
not wholly tractable or harmless, but they 
were, doubtless, as deserving of protection 
as were the faithful themselves. This was not 
for them, however, and as for the violence and 

364 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

hatred with which they were held here, one 
has only to recall that at Beziers took place 
the crowning massacres of the Albigenses — 
"the most learned, intellectual, and philo- 
sophic revolters from the Church of Rome. 

Beneath the shadow of these grim walls and 
towers over twenty thousand men and women 
and children were slaughtered by the fanatics 
of orthodox France and Rome; led on and 
incited by the Bishop of Beziers, who has 
been called — and justly as it would seem — 
" the blackest-souled bigot who ever de- 
formed the face of God's earth." 

The cathedral at Beziers is not a great or 
imposing structure w^hen taken by itself. It 
is only in conjunction with its fortified walls 
and ramparts and commanding situation that 
it rises to supreme rank. 

It is commonly classed as a work of the 
twelfth to fourteenth centuries, and with the 
characteristics of its era and local environ- 
ment, it presents no very grand or ornate 
features. 

Its first general plan was due to a layman- 
architect, Gervais, which perhaps accounts 
for a certain lack of. what might otherwise 
be referred to as ecclesiastical splendour. 

The remains of this early work are pre- 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

sumably slight; perhaps nothing more than 
the foundation walls, as a fire in 1209 did a 
considerable damage. 

The transepts were added in the thirteenth 
century, and the two dwarfed towers in the 
fourteenth, at which period was built the 
clocher (151 feet), the apside, and the nave 
proper. 

There is not a great brilliancy or refulgent 
glow from the fabric from which St. Nazaire 
de Beziers is built; as is so frequent in secular 
works in this region. The stone was dark, ap- 
parently, to start with, and has aged consider- 
ably since it was put into place. This, in a 
great measure, accounts for the lack of liveli- 
ness in the design and arrangement of this 
cathedral, and the only note which breaks the 
monotony of the exterior are the two statues, 
symbolical of the ancient and the modern 
laws of the universe, which flank the western 
portal — or what stands for such, did it but 
possess the dignity of magnitude. 

So far as the exterior goes. It Is one's first 
acquaintance with St. Nazaire, when seen 
across the river Orb, which gives the most 
lively and satisfying Impression. 

The Interior attributes of worth and Inter- 
est are more numerous and pleasing. 

366 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The nave is aisleless, but has numerous 
lateral chapels. The choir has a remarkable 
series of windows which preserve, even to- 
day, their ancient protecting grilles — a 
series of wonderfully worked iron scrolls. 
These serve to preserve much fourteenth-cen- 
tury glass of curious, though hardly beautiful, 
design. To a great extent this ancient glass 
is hidden from view by a massive eighteenth- 
century retahle, which is without any worth 
whatever as an artistic accessory. 

A cloister of the fourteenth century flanks 
the nave on the south, and is the chief feature 
of really appealing quality within the con- 
fines of the cathedral precincts. 
, The view from the terrace before the cathe- 
dral is one which is hardly approachable else- 
where. For many miles in all directions 
stretches the low, flat plain of Languedoc; the 
Mediterranean lies to the east; the Cevennes 
and the valley of the Orb to the north ; with 
the lance-like Canal du Midi stretching away 
to the westward. 

As might be expected, the streets of the city 
are tortuous and narrow, but there are evi- 
dences of the march of improvement which 
may in time be expected to eradicate all this 
— to the detriment of the picturesque aspect. 




XIII 



ST. JEAN DE PERPIGNAN 



Perpignan is another of those provincial 
cities of France which in manners and cus- 
toms sedulously imitate those of their larger 
and more powerful neighbours. 

From the fact that it is the chief town of 
the Department des Pyrenees-Orientales, 
it perhaps justifies the procedure. But it is 
as the ancient capital of Rousillon — only 
united with France in 1659 — that the im- 
aginative person will like to think of it — in 
spite of its modern cafes, tram-cars, and 
tnagazins. 

368 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Like the smaller and less progressive town 
of Elne, Perpignan retains much the same 
Catalonian flavour of " physiognomy, lan- 
guage, and dress;" and its narrow, tortuous 
streets and the jalousies and patios of its 
houses carry the suggestion still further. 

The Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 
changed the course of the city's destinies, 
and to-day it is the fortress-city of France 
which commands the easterly route into Spain. 

The city's Christian influences began when 
the see was removed hither from Elne, where 
it had been founded as early as the sixth 
century. 

The cathedral of St. Jean is a wonderful 
structure. In the lines of its apside it sug- 
gests those of Albi, while the magnitude of 
its great strongly roofed nave is only com- 
parable w^ith that of Bordeaux as to its gen- 
eral dimensions. The great distinction of 
this feature comes from the fact that its Ro- 
manesque walls are surmounted by a truly 
ogival vault. This great church was originally 
founded by the king of Majorca, who held 
Rousillon in ransom from the king of Aragon 
in 1324. 

The west front is entirely unworthy of the 
other proportions of the structure, and deci- 

369 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

dedly the most brilliant and lively view is that 
of the apside and its chapels. There is an 
odd fourteenth-century tower, above which is 
suspended a clock in a cage of iron. 

The whole design or outline of the exterior 
of this not very ancient cathedral is in the 
main Spanish; it is at least not French. 

This Spanish sentiment is further sustained 
by many of the interior accessories and de- 
tails, of which the chief and most elaborate 
are an altar-screen of wood and stone of o:reat 
magnificence, a marble retable of the seven- 
teenth century, a baptismal font of the twelfth 
or thirteenth century, some indifferent paint- 
ings, the usual organ buffet with fifteenth-cen- 
tury carving, and a tomb of a former bishop 
(1695) in the transept. 

The altars, other than the above, are gar- 
ish and unappealing. 

A further notable effect to be seen in the 
massive nave is the very excellent " pointed " 
vaulting. 

There are, close beside the present church, 
the remains of an older St. Jean — now nought 
but a ruin. 

The Bourse (locally called La Loge, from 
the Spanish Lonja) has a charming cloistered 
courtyard of a mixed Moorish-Gothic style. 

370 



The Cathedrals of Soitthem France 

It is well worthy of interest, as is also the 
citadel and castle of the King of Majorca. 
The latter has a unique portal to its chapel. 
It is recorded that Bishop Berengarius II. 
of Perpignan in the year 1019 visited the 
Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and on his re- 
turn built a church or chapel on similar lines 
in memory of his pilgrimage. No remains 
of it are visible to-day, nor can it be further 
traced. Mention of it is made here from the 
fact that it seems to have been a worthy under- 
taking, — this memorial of a prelate's de- 
votion to his faith. 



371 




XIV 



STE. EULALIA D'ELNE 



Elne is the first in importance of the dead 
cities which border the Gulf of Lyons. 

It is the ancient Illiberis, frequently men- 
tioned by Pliny, Livy, and, latterly, Gibbon. 

To-day it is ignored by all save the commis 
voyageur and a comparatively small number 
of the genuine French touristes. 

Formerly the ancient province of Rousil- 
lon, in v^hich Elne is situated, and which 
bordered upon the Spanish frontier, was dis- 
tinctly Spanish as to manners and customs. 
It is, moreover, the reputed spot where Han- 

372 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

nibal first encamped after crossing the Pyre- 
nees on his march to Rome. 

Like Bayonne, at the other extremity of 
the Pyrenean mountain chain, it commanded 
the gateway to Spain, and even to-day is the 
real entrance of the railway route to Barce- 
lona, as is Bayonne to Madrid. 

Between these two cities, for a distance ap- 
proaching one hundred and eighty miles, 
there is scarce a highway over the mountain 
barrier along which a wheeled vehicle may 
travel with comfort, and the tiny Republic of 
Andorra, though recently threatened with the 
advent of the railway, is still isolated and un- 
spoiled from the tourist influence, as well as 
from undue intercourse with either France 
or Spain, which envelop its few square miles 
of area as does the Atlantic Ocean the Azores. 

To-day Elne is no longer the seat of a 
bishop, the see of Rousillon having been trans- 
ferred to Perpignan in the fourteenth century, 
after having endured from the time of the 
first bishop, Domnus, since the sixth century. 

There has been left as a reminder a very 
interesting and beautiful smaller cathedral 
church of the early eleventh century. 

Alterations and restorations, mostly of the 
fifteenth century, have changed its material 

373 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

aspect but little, and it still remains a highly 
captivating monumental glory; which opin- 
ion is further sustained from the fact that 
the Commission des Monuments Historiques 
has had the fabric under its own special care 
for many years. 

It is decidedly a minor edifice, and its parts 
are as unimpressive as its lack of magnitude; 
still, for all that, the church-lovers will find 
much crude beauty in this Romanesque basil- 
ica-planned church, with its dependant clois- 
ter of a very beautiful flowing Gothic of the 
fifteenth century. 

The chief artistic treasures of this ancient 
cathedral, aside from its elegant cloister, are 
a benitier in white marble; a portal of some 
pretensions, leading from the cathedral to 
its cloister; a fourteen-century tomb, of some 
considerable artistic worth; and a bas-relief, 
called the " Tomb of Constans." 

There is little else of note, either in or about 
the cathedral, and the town itself has the gen- 
eral air of a glory long past. 



374 




^• ■ #^^^^P^. ^^ 






XV 

ST. JUST DE NARBONNE 

The ancient province of Narbonenses — 
afterward comprising Languedoc — had for 
its capital what is still the city of Narbonne. 
One may judge of the former magnificence of 
Narbonne by the following lines of Sidonius 
Apollinaris : 

" Salve Narbo potens Salubritate, 
Qui Urbe et Rure simul bonus Videris, 
Muris, CIvibus, ambitu, Tabernis, 
Portis, Porticibus, Foro, Theatre, 
Delubris, Capitoliis, Monetis, 
Thermis, Arcubus, Harreis, Macellis, 
Pratis, Fontibus, Insulus, Salinis, 
Stagnis, Flumine, Merce, Ponte, Ponto, 
Unus qui jure venere divos 
Lenoeum, Cererum, Palem, Minervam, 
Spicis, Palmite, Poscius, Tapetis." 

Narbonne is still mighty and healthful, if 
one is to judge from the activities of the pres- 

375 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ent day; is picturesque and pleasing, and far 
more comfortably disposed than many cities 
with a more magnificently imposing situation. 

The city remained faithful to the Romans 
until the utmost decay of the western empire, 
at which time (462) it was delivered to the 
Goths. 

It was first the head of a kingdom, and later, 
when it came to the Romans, it was made the 
capital of a province which comprised the 
fourth part of Gaul. 

This in turn was subdivided into the 
provinces of Narbonenses, Viennensis, the 
Greek Alps, and the Maritime Alps, that is, 
all of the later Savoie, Dauphine, Provence, 
Lower Languedoc, Rousillon, Toulousan, and 
the Comte de Foix. 

Under the second race of kings, the Dukes 
of Septimannia took the title of Dues de Nar- 
bonne, but the lords of the city contented them- 
selves with the name of viscount, which they 
bore from 1134 to 1507, when Gaston de Foix 
— the last Viscount of Narbonne — ex- 
changed it for other lands, with his uncle, 
the French king, Louis XII. The most cred- 
ulous affirm that the Proconsul Sergius Pau- 
lus — converted by St. Paul — was the first 
preacher of Christianity at Narbonne. 

376 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The Church is here, therefore, of great an- 
tiquity, and there are plausible proofs which 
demonstrate the claim. 

The episcopal palace at Narbonne, closely 
built up with the Hotel de Ville (rebuilt by 
VioUet-le-Duc), is a realization of the prog- 
ress of the art of domestic fortified architec- 
ture of the time. 

Like its contemporary at Laon in the north, 
and more particularly after the manner of 
the papal palace at Avignon and the arch- 
bishop's palace at Albi, this structure com- 
bined the functions of a domestic and official 
establishment with those of a stronghold or 
a fortified place of no mean pretence. 

Dating from 1272, the cathedral of St. Just 
de Narbonne suggests comparison with, or at 
least the influence of, Amiens. 

It is strong, hardy, and rich, with a direct- 
ness of purpose with respect to its various at- 
tributes that in a less lofty structure is want- 
ing. 

The height of the choir-vault is perhaps a 
hundred and twenty odd feet, as against one 
hundred and forty-seven at Amiens, and ac- 
cordingly it does not sufiFer in comparison. 

It may be remarked that these northern 
attributes of lofty vaulting and the high de- 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

velopment of the arc-boutant were not gen- 
eral throughout the south, or indeed in any 
other region than the north of France. Only 
at Bazas, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Auch, Tou- 
louse,^ and Narbonne do we find these features 
in any acceptable degree of perfection. 

The architects of the Midi had, by resist- 
ance and defiance, conserved antique tradi- 
tions with much greater vigour than they had 
endorsed the new style, with the result that 
many of their structures, of a period contem- 
porary with the early development of the 
Gothic elsewhere, here favoured it little if 
at all. 

Only from the thirteenth century onward 
did they make general use of ogival vaulting, 
maintaining with great conservatism the basil- 
ica plan of Roman tradition. 

In many other respects than constructive 
excellence does St. Just show a pleasing as- 
pect. It has, between the main body of the 
church and the present Hotel de Ville and the 
remains of the ancient archeveche, a frag- 
mentary cloister which is grand to the point 
of being scenic. It dates from the fourteenth 
and fifteenth centuries, and is decidedly the 
most appealing feature of the entire cathedral 
precincts. 

378 




CLOISTER OF ST. fUST 
de NARBONNE .'.. . 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The cathedral itself still remains un- 
achieved as to completeness, but its tourelles, 
its vaulting, its buttresses, and its crenelated 
walls are most impressive. 

There are some elaborate tombs in the in- 
terior, in general of the time of Henri IV. 

The tresor is rich in missals, manuscripts, 
ivories, and various altar ornaments and deco- 
rations. 

The choir is enclosed with a series of arena- 
like loges, outside which runs a double aisle. 

There are fragmentary evidences of the 
one-time possession of good glass, but what 
paintings are shown appear ordinary and are 
doubtless of little worth. 

Decidedly the cathedral is an unusually 
splendid, if not a truly magnificent, work. 



379 



PART V 
The Valley of the Garonne 



INTRODUCTORY 

The basin of the Garonne includes all of the 
lower Aquitanian province, Lower Langue- 
doc, — still a debatable and undefinable land, 
— and much of that region known of lovers 
of France, none the less than the native him- 
self, as the Midi. 

Literally the term Midi refers to the south 
of France, but more particularly that part 
which lies between the mouth of the Rhone 
and the western termination of the Pyrenean 
mountain boundary between France and 
Spain. 

The term is stamped indelibly in the pop- 
ular mind by the events which emanated from 
that wonderful march of the legion, known 
as '' Les Rouges du Midi," in Revolutionary 
times. We have heard much of the excesses 
of the Revolution, but certainly the vivid his- 
tory of ^^ Les Rouges," as recounted so well in 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

that admirable book of Felix Gras (none the 
less truthful because it is a novel), which 
bears the same name, gives every justification 
to those valiant souls who made up that re- 
markable phalanx; of whose acts most his- 
torians and humanitarians are generally 
pleased to revile as cruelty and sacrilege un- 
speakable. 

Felix Gras himself has told of the ignoble 
subjection in which his own great-grand- 
father, a poor peasant, was held; and Fred- 
eric Mistral tells of a like incident — of 
lashing and beating — which was thrust upon 
a relative of his. If more reason were wanted, 
a perusal of the written records of the Mar- 
seilles Battalion will point the way. Written 
history presents many stubborn facts, difficult 
to digest and hard to swallow; but the his- 
torical novel in the hands of a master will 
prove much that is otherwise unacceptable. 
A previous acquaintance with this fascinating 
and lurid story is absolutely necessary for a 
proper realization of the spirit which en- 
dowed the inhabitants of this section of the 
pays du Midi. 

To-day the same spirit lives to a notable 
degree. The atmosphere and the native char- 
acter alike are both full of sunshine and 

384 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

shadow; grown men and women are yet 
children, and gaiety, humour, and passion 
abound where, in the more austere North, 
would be seen nought but indifference and 
indolence. 

It is the fashion to call the South languid, 
but nowhere more than at Bordeaux — where 
the Garonne joins La Gironde — will you 
find so great and ceaseless an activity. 

The people are not, to be sure, of the peas- 
ant class, still they are not such town-dwellers 
as in many other parts, and seem to combine, 
as do most of the people of southern France, 
a languor and keenness which are intoxicating 
if not stimulating. 

Between Bordeaux and Toulouse are not 
many great towns, but, in the words of Taine, 
one well realizes that " it is a fine country." 
The Garonne valley, with a fine alluvial soil, 
grows, productively and profitably, corn, to- 
bacco, and hemp ; and by the utmost industry 
and intelligence the workers are able to pros- 
per exceedingly. 

The traveller from the Mediterranean 
across to the Atlantic — or the reverse — by 
rail, will get glimpses now and then of this 
wonderfully productive river-bottom, as it 
flows yellow-brown through its osier-bedded 

385 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

banks; and again, an intermittent view of the 
Canal du Midi, upon whose non-raging 
bosom is carried a vast water-borne traffic by 
barge and canal-boat, which even the devel- 
opment of the railway has not been able to 
appreciably curtail. 

Here, too, the peasant proprietor is largely 
in evidence, which is an undoubted factor in 
the general prosperity. His blockings, hedg- 
ings, and fencings have spoiled the expanse of 
hillside and vale in much the same manner as 
in Albion. This may be a pleasing feature 
to the uninitiated, but it is not a picturesque 
one. However, the proprietorship of small 
plots of land, worked by their non-luxury 
demanding owners, is accountable for a great 
deal of the peace and plenty with which all 
provincial France, if we except certain moun- 
tainous regions, seems to abound. It may not 
provide a superabundance of this world's 
wealth and luxury, but the French farmer — 
in a small way — has few likes of that nature, 
and the existing conditions make for a con- 
tentment which the dull, brutal, and lethargic 
farm labourer of some parts of England 
might well be forced to emulate, if even by 
ball and chain. 

Flat-roofed houses, reminiscent of Spain 

386 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

or Italy — born of a mild climate — add a 
pleasing variety of architectural feature, 
while the curiously hung bells — with their 
flattened belfries, like the headstones in a 
cemetery — suggest something quite different 
from the motives which inspired the northern 
builders, who enclosed their chimes in a 
roofed-over, open-sided cubicle. The bells 
here hang merely in apertures open to the 
air on each side, and ring out sharp and true 
to the last dying note. It is a most picturesque 
and unusual arrangement, hardly to be seen 
elsewhere as a characteristic feature outside 
Spain itself, and in some of the old Missions, 
which the Spanish Fathers built in the early 
days of California. 

Between Bayonne and Bordeaux, and bor- 
dered by the sea, the Garonne, and the Adour, 
is a nondescript land which may be likened 
to the deserts of Africa or Asia, except that 
its barrenness is of the sea salty. It is by no 
means unpeopled, though uncultivated and 
possessed of little architectural splendour of 
either a past or the present day. 

Including the half of the department of the 
Gironde, a corner of Lot et Garonne, and all 
of that which bears its name, the Landes forms 
of itself a great seaboard plain or morass. It 

387 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

is said by a geographical authority that the 
surface so very nearly approaches the recti- 
linear that for a distance of twenty-eight miles 
between the dismal villages of Lamothe and 
Labonheyre the railway is " a visible merid- 
ian." 

The early eighteenth-century writers — in 
English — used to revile all France, so far 
as its topographical charms were concerned, 
with panegyrics upon its unloveliness and lack 
of variety, and of being anything more than a 
flat, arid land, which was not sufficient even 
unto itself. 

What induced this extraordinary reasoning 
It IS hard to realize at the present day. 

Its beauties are by no means as thinly sown 
as is thought by those who know them slightly 
— from a window of a railway carriage, or a 
sojourn of a month in Brittany, a week in 
Provence, or a fortnight in Touraine. 

The ennui of a journey through France is 
the result of individual incapacity for obser- 
vation, not of the country. Above all, it is 
certainly not true of Guienne or Gascony, nor 
of Provence, nor of Dauphine, nor Auvergne, 
nor Savoie. 

As great rivers go, the Garonne is not of 
very great size, nor so very magnificent in its 

388 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

reaches, nor so very picturesque, — with that 
minutiae associated with English rivers of a 
like rank, — but it is suggestive of far more 
than most streams of its size and length, wher- 
ever found. 

Its source is well within the Spanish fron- 
tier, in the picturesque Val d'Aran, where the 
boundary between the two countries makes a 
curious detour, and leaves the crest of the 
Pyrenees, which it follows throughout — with 
this exception — from the Mediterranean to 
the Atlantic. 

The Garonne becomes navigable at Ca- 
zeres, some distance above Toulouse, and con- 
tinues its course, enhanced by the confluence 
of the Tarn, the Lot, the Arriege, and the 
Dordogne, beyond the junction of which, two 
hundred and seventy odd miles from the head 
of navigation, the estuary takes on the nomen- 
clature of ha Gironde. 

Of the ancient provinces of these parts, the 
most famous is Guienne, that ^' fair duchy " 
once attached — by a subtle process of reason- 
ing — to the English crown. 

It is distinguished, as to its economic as- 
pect, by its vast vineyards, which have given 
the wines, so commonly esteemed, the name 
of claret. These and the other products of 

389 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the country have found their way into all 
markets of the world through the Atlantic 
coast metropolis of Bordeaux. 

The Gascogne of old was a large province 
to the southward of Guienne. A romantic 
land, say the chroniclers and mere litterateurs 
alike. " Peopled by a race fiery, ardent, and 
impetuous . . . with a peculiar tendency to 
boasting, hence the term gasconade!' The 
peculiar and characteristic feature of Gas- 
cogne, as distinct from that which holds in 
the main throughout these parts, is that 
strange and wild section called the Landes, 
which is spoken of elsewhere. 

The ancient province of Languedoc, which 
in its lower portion is included in this section, 
is generally reputed to be the pride of France 
with regard to climate, soil, and scenery. 
Again, this has been ruled otherwise, but a 
more or less intimate acquaintance with the 
region does not fail to endorse the first claim. 
This wide, strange land has not vastly changed 
its aspect since the inhabitants first learned 
to fly instead of fight. 

This statement is derived to a great extent 
from legend, but, in addition, is supported by 
much literary and historical opinion, which 
has recorded its past. It is not contemptuous 

390 



Tlie Cathedrals of Southern France 

criticism any more than Froissart's own 
words; therefore let it stand. 

When the French had expelled the Goths 
beyond the Pyrenees, Charlemagne estab- 
lished his governors in Languedoc with the 
title of Counts of Toulouse. The first was 
Corson, in 778; the second St. W. du Court- 
nez or Aux-Cornets, from whence the princes 
of Orange derive their pedigree, as may be 
inferred from the hunting-horns in their arms. 

Up to the eighteenth century these states re- 
tained a certain independence and exercise of 
home rule, and had an Assembly made up of 
" the three orders of the kingdom," the clergy, 
the nobility, and the people. The Archbishop 
of Narbonne was president of the body, 
though he was seldom called upon but to give 
the king money. This he acquired by the 
laying on of an extraordinary imposition 
under the name of '* Don-Gratuit/' 

The wide, rolling country of Lower Lan- 
guedoc has no very grand topographical fea- 
tures, but it is watered by frequent and ample 
streams, and peopled with row upon row of 
sturdy trees, with occasional groves of mul- 
berries, olives, and other citrus fruits. Over 
all glows the luxuriant southern sun with a 



391 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

tropical brilliance, but without its fierce burn- 
ing rays. 

Mention of the olive suggests the regard 
which most of us have for this tree of romantic 
and sentimental association. As a religious 
emblem, it is one of the most favoured relics 
which has descended to us from Biblical 
times. 

A writer on southern France has ques- 
tioned the beauty of the growing tree. It 
does, truly, look somewhat mop-headed, and 
it does spread somewhat like a mushroom, 
but, with all that, it is a picturesque and pro- 
lific adjunct to a southern landscape, and has 
been in times past a source of inspiration to 
poets and painters, and of immeasurable profit 
to the thrifty grower. 

The worst feature which can possibly be 
called up with respect to Lower Languedoc 
is the ^' skyey influences " of the Mistral, dry 
and piercingly cold wind which blows south- 
ward through all the Rhone valley with a 
surprising strength. 

Madame de Sevigne paints it thus in words: 

*^ lue tourhlllon, Vouragan, tous les diables 
dechaines qui veulent bien emporter voire 
chateau f 

Foremost among the cities of the region are 

392 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Toulouse, Carcassonne, Montpellier, Nar- 
bonne, and Beziers, of which Carcassonne is 
preeminent as to its picturesque interest, and 
perhaps, as well, as to its storied past. 

The Pyrenees have of late attracted more 
and more attention from the tourist, who has 
become sated with the conventionality of the 
'' trippers' tour " to Switzerland. The many 
attractive resorts which the Pyrenean region 
has will doubtless go the way of others else- 
where — if they are given time, but for the 
present this entire mountain region is pos- 
sessed of much that will appeal to the less 
conventional traveller. 

Of all the mountain ranges of Europe, the 
Pyrenees stand unique as to their regularity 
of configuration and strategic importance. 
They bind and bound Spain and France with 
a bony ligature which is indented like the 
edge of a saw. 

From the Atlantic at Bayonne to the Med- 
iterranean at Port Bou, the mountain chain 
divides its valleys and ridges with the regu- 
larity of a wall-trained shrub or pear-tree, 
and sinks on both sides to the level plains of 
France and Spain. In the midst of this rises 
the river Garonne. Its true source is in the 
Piedrafitta group of peaks, whence its waters 

393 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

flow on through Toulouse, various tributaries 
combining to give finally to Bordeaux its com- 
manding situation and importance. Around 
its source, which is the true centre of the Pyr- 
enees, is the parting line between the Med- 
iterranean and the Atlantic. On one side the 
waters flow down through the fields of France 
to the Biscayan Bay, and on the other south- 
ward and westward through the Iberian pen- 
insula. 

Few of the summits exceed the height of 
the ridge by more than two thousand feet; 
whereas in the Alps many rise from six to 
eight thousand feet above the massif , while 
scenic Mont Blanc elevates its head over fif- 
teen thousand feet. 

As a barrier, the Pyrenees chain is unique. 
For over one hundred and eighty miles, from 
the Col de la Perche to Maya — practically 
a suburb of Bayonne — not a carriage road 
nor a railway crosses the range. 

The etymology of the name of this moun- 
tain chain is in dispute. Many suppose it to 
be from the Greek pur (fire), alluding to the 
volcanic origin of the peaks. This is endorsed 
by many, while others consider that it comes 
from the Celtic word hyren, meaning a moun- 
tain. Both derivations are certainly apropos, 

394 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

but the weight of favour must always lie with 
the former rather than the latter. 

The ancient province of Beam is essentially 
media3val to-day. Its local tongue is a pure 
Romance language; something quite distinct 
from mere patois. It is principally thought 
to be a compound of Latin and Teutonic with 
an admixture of Arabic. 

This seems involved, but, as it is unlike 
modern French, or Castilian, and modern 
everything else, it would seem difficult for any 
but an expert student of tongues to place it 
definitely. To most of us it appears to be but 
a jarring jumble of words, which may have 
been left behind by the followers of the vari- 
ous conquerors which at one time- or another 
swept over the land. 



395 



II 

ST. ANDRE DE BORDEAUX 

" One finds here reminders of the Visigoths, the 
Franks, the Saracens, and the English; and the temples, 
theatres, arenas, and monuments by which each made 
his mark of possession yet remain." 

AURELIAN SCHOLL. 

Taine in his Garnets de Voyage says of 
Bordeaux: " It is a sort of second Paris, gay 
and magnificent . . . amusement is the main 
business." 

Bordeaux does not change. It has ever 
been advanced, and always a centre of gaiety. 
Its fetes and functions quite rival those of 
the capital itself, — at times, — and its opera- 
house is the most famed and magnificent in 
France, outside of Paris. 

It is a city of enthusiastic demonstrations. 
It was so in 1814 for the Bourbons, and again 
a year later for the emperor on his return 
from Elba. 

396 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

In 1857 it again surpassed itself in its en- 
thusiasm for Louis Napoleon, when he was 
received in the cathedral, under a lofty dais, 
and led to the altar with the cry of '' Vive 
Vempereur; " while during the bloody 
Franco-Prussian war it was the seat of the 
provisional government of Thiers. 

Here the Gothic wave of the North has 
produced in the cathedral of St. Andre a 
remarkably impressive and unexpected ex- 
ample of the style. 

In the general effect of size alone it will 
rank with many more important and more 
beautiful churches elsewhere. Its total length 
of over four hundred and fifty feet ranks it 
among the longest in France, and its vast nave, 
with a span of sixty feet, aisleless though it 
be, gives a still further expression of grandeur 
and magnificence. 

It is known that three former cathedrals 
were successfully destroyed by invading 
Goths, Saracens, and warlike Normans. 

Yet another structure was built in the elev- 
enth century, which, with the advent of the 
English in Guienne, in the century following, 
was enlarged and magnified into somewhat 
of an approach to the present magnificent 
dimensions, though no English influence pre- 

397 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

vailed toward erecting a central tower, as 
might have been anticipated. Instead we 
have two exceedingly graceful and lofty 
spired towers flanking the north transept, and 
yet another single tower, lacking its spire, on 
the south. 

The portal of the north transept — of the 
fourteenth century — is an elaborate work of 
itself. It is divided into two bays that join 
beneath a dais, on which is a statue of Ber- 
trand de Goth, who was Pope in 1305, under 
the name of Clement V. He is here clothed 
in sacerdotal habits, and stands upright in the 
attitude of benediction. 

At the lower right-hand side are statues of 
six bishops, but, like that of Pope Clement, 
they do not form a part of the constructive 
elements of the portal, as did most work of a 
like nature in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
turies, but are made use of singly as a dec- 
orative motive. 

The spring of the arch which surrounds 
the tympanum is composed of a cordon of 
foliaged stone separating the six angels of the 
premiere archivolte from the twelve apostles 
of the second, and the fourteen patriarchs and 
prophets of the third. 

In the tympanum are three has-reliefs su- 

398 



The Cathedrals of Southeni France 

perimposed one upon the other, the upper 
being naturally the smaller. They represent 
the Christ triumphant, seated on a dais be- 
tween two angels, one bearing a staff and the 
other a veil, while above hover two other 
angelic figures holding respectively the moon 
and sun. 

The arrangement is not so elaborate or 
gracefully executed as many, but in its sim- 
ple and expressive symbolism, in spite of the 
fact that the whole added ornament appears 
an afterthought, is far more convincing than 
many more pretentious works of a similar 
nature. 

Another exterior feature of note is seen at 
the third pillar at the right of the choir. It 
is a curious double (back-to-back) statue of 
Ste. Anne and the Virgin. It is of stone and 
of the late sixteenth century, when sculpture 
— if it had not actually debased itself by su- 
perfluity of detail — was of an excellence of 
symmetry which was often lacking entirely 
from work of the thirteenth and fourteenth 
centuries. 

The choir-chevet is a magnificent pyram- 
idal mass of piers, pinnacles, and buttresses 
of much elegance. 

The towers which flank the north transept 

399 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

are adorned with an excellent disposition of 
ornament. 

The greater part of this cathedral was con- 
structed during the period of English dom- 
ination; the choir would doubtless never have 
been achieved in its present form had it not 
been for the liberality of Edward I. and Pope 
Clement V., who had been the archbishop of 
the diocese. 

The cathedral of St. Andre dates practi- 
cally from 1252, and is, in inception and ex- 
ecution, a very complete Gothic church. 

Over its aisleless nave is carried one of the 
boldest and most magnificent vaults known. 
The nave is more remarkable, however, for 
this gigantic attribute than for any other ex- 
cellencies which it possesses. 

In the choir, which rises much higher than 
the nave, there comes into being a double aisle 
on either side, as if to make up for the defi- 
ciencies of the nave in this respect. 

The choir arrangement and accessories are 
remarkably elaborate, though many of them 
are not of great artistic worth. Under the 
organ are two sculptured Renaissance has- 
reliefs, taken from the ancient jube, and rep- 
resenting a " Descent from the Cross " and 
" Christ Bearing the Cross." There are two 

400 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

religious paintings of some value, one by Jor- 
daens, and the other by Alex. Veronese. Be- 
fore the left transept is a monument to Car- 
dinal de Cheverus, with his statue. Sur- 
rounding the stonework of a monument to 
d'Ant de Noailles (1662) is a fine work of 
wood-carving. 

The high-altar is of the period contem- 
porary with the main body of the cathedral, 
and was brought thither from the Eglise de 
la Reole. 

The Province of Bordeaux, as the early 
ecclesiastical division was known, had its 
archiepiscopal seat at Bordeaux in the fourth 
century, though it had previously (in the 
third century) been made a bishopric. 



401 



Ill 

CATHEDRALE DE LECTOURE 

LecTOURE, though defunct as a bishopric 
to-day, had endured from the advent of Heu- 
terius, in the sixth century, until 1790. 

In spite of the lack of ecclesiastical remains 
of a very great rank, there is in its one-time 
cathedral a work which can hardly be con- 
templated except with affectionate admira- 
tion. 

The affairs of a past day, either with respect 
to Church or State, appear not to have been 
very vivid or highly coloured; in fact, the re- 
verse appears to be the case. In pre-mediaeval 
times — when the city was known as the Ro- 
man village of Lactora — it was strongly 
fortified, like most hilltop towns of GauL 

The cathedral dates for the most part from 
the thirteenth century, and in the massive 
tower which enwraps its fagade shows strong 
indications of the workmanship of an alien 

402 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

hand, which was neither French nor Italian. 
This tower is thought to resemble the Norman 
work of England and the north of France, and 
in some measure it does, though it may be 
questioned as to whether this is the correct 
classification. This tower, whatever may 
have been its origin, is, however, one of those 
features which is to be admired for itself 
alone; and it amply endorses and sustains the 
claim of this church to a consideration more 
lasting than a mere passing fancy. 

The entire plan is unusually light and 
graceful, and though, by no stretch of opin- 
ion could it be thought of as Gothic, it has 
not a little of the suggestion of the style, which 
at a former time must have been even more 
pronounced in that its western tower once 
possessed a spire which rose to a sky-piercing 
height. 

The lower tower still remains, but the spire, 
having suffered from lightning and the winds 
at various times, was, a century or more ago, 
removed. 

The nave has a series of lateral chapels, 
each surmounted by a sort of gallery or trib- 
une, which would be notable in any church 
edifice, and there is fine traceried vaulting in 



403 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

the apsidal chapels, which also contain some 
effective, though modern coloured glass. 
The former episcopal residence is now the 

local Mairie. 

On a clear day, it is said, the towers of the 
cathedral at Auch may be seen to the north- 
ward, while in the opposite direction the ser- 
rated ridge of the Pyrenees is likewise visible. 



404 



IV 

NOTRE DAME DE BAYONNE 

" Distant are the violet Pyrenees, wonderful and regal 
in their grandeur. The sun is bright, and laughs joyously 
at the Bearnais peasant." 

— Jean Rameau. 

Bayonne is an ancient town, and was 
known by the Romans as Lapurdum. As a 
centre of Christianity, it was behind its neigh- 
bours, as no bishopric was founded here until 
Arsias Rocha held the see in the ninth cen- 
tury. No church-building of remark fol- 
lowed for at least two centuries, when the 
foundations were laid upon which the present 
cathedral was built up. 

Like the cities and towns of Rousillon, at 
the opposite end of the Pyrenean chain, Ba- 
yonne has for ever been of mixed race and 
characteristics. Basques, Spaniards, Bearn- 
ese, and " alien French " — as the native calls 
them — went to make up its conglomerate 

405 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

population in the past, and does even yet in 
considerable proportions. 

To the reader of history, the mediaeval 
Beam and Navarre, which to-day forms the 
Department of the Basses-Pyrenees in the 
southwest corner of France, will have the most 
lively interest, from the fact of its having been 
the principality of Henri Quatre, the '' good 
king " whose name was so justly dear. The 
history of the Bearnese is a wonderful record 
of a people of which too little is even yet 
known. 

Bayonne itself has had many and varied 
historical associations, though it is not steeped 
in that antiquity which is the birthright of 
many another favoured spot. 

Guide-books and the " notes-and-queries 
columns " of antiquarian journals have un- 
duly enlarged upon the fact that the bayonet 
— to-day a well-nigh useless appendage as 
a weapon of war — was first invented here. 
It is interesting as a fact, perhaps, but it is 
not of aesthetic moment. 

The most gorgeous event of history con- 
nected with Bayonne and its immediate vi- 
cinity — among all that catalogue, from the 
minor Spanish Invasions to Wellington's stu- 
pendous activities — was undoubtedly that 

406 



2 he Cathedrals of Southern France 

which led up to the famous Pyrenean Treaty 
made on the Isle du Faisan, close beside the 
bridge, in the river Bidassoa, on the Spanish 
frontier. 

The memory of the parts played therein by 
Mazarin and De Haro, and not less the gor- 
geous pavilion in w^hich the function was 
held, form a setting which the writers of 
^' poetical plays " and '' historical romances " 
seem to have neglected. 

This magnificent apartment was decorated 
by Velasquez, who, it is said, died of his in- 
glorious transformation into an upholsterer. 

The cathedral at Bayonne is contemporary 
with those at Troyes, Meaux, and Auxerre, 
in the north of France. It resembles greatly 
the latter as to general proportions and situa- 
tion, though it possesses two completed spires, 
whereas St. Etienne, at Auxerre, has but one. 

In size and beauty the cathedral at Bayonne 
is far above the lower rank of the cathedrals 
of France, and in spite of extensive restora- 
tions, it yet stands forth as a mediaeval work 
of great importance. 

From a foundation of the date of 1140, a 
structure was in part completed by 1213, at 
which time the whole existing fabric suffered 
the ravages of fire. Work was immediately 

407 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

undertaken again, commencing with the 
choir; and, except for the grand portal of 
the west front, the whole church was finished 
by the mid-sixteenth century. 

Restoration of a late date, induced by the 
generosity of a native of the city, has resulted 
in the completion of the cathedral, which, if 
not a really grand church to-day, is an exceed- 
ingly near approach thereto. 

The fine western towers are modern, but 
they form the one note which produces the 
effect of ensemble, which otherwise would be 
entirely wanting. 

The view from the Quai Bergemet, just 
across the Adour, for picturesqueness of the 
quality which artists — tyros and masters 
alike — love to sketch, is reminiscent only of 
St. Lo in Normandy. 

Aside from the charm of its general pictur- 
esqueness of situation and grouping, Notre 
Dame de Bayonne will appeal mostly by its 
interior arrangements and embellishments. 

The western portal is still lacking the great- 
ness which future ages may yet bestow upon it, 
and that of the north transept, by which one 
enters, is, though somewhat more ornate, not 
otherwise remarkable. 

A florid cloister of considerable size at- 

408 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

taches itself on the south, but access is had 
only from the sacristy. 

The choir and apse are of the thirteenth 
century, and immediately followed the fire 
of 1213. 

Neither the transepts nor choir are of 
great length; indeed, they are attenuated as 
compared with those of the more magnificent 
churches of the Gothic type, of which this is, 
in a way, an otherwise satisfying example. 

The patriotic Englishman will take pride 
in the fact that the English arms are graven 
somewhere in the vaulting of the nave. He 
may not be able to spy them out, — probably 
will not be, — but they likely enough existed, 
as a mid-Victorian writer describes them 
minutely, though no modern guides or works 
of local repute make mention of the feature 
in any way. The triforium is elegantly 
traceried, and is the most worthy and artistic 
detail to be seen in the whole structure. 

The clerestory windows contain glass of the 
fifteenth century; much broken to-day, but 
of the same excellent quality of its century, 
and that Immediately preceding. The re- 
mainder of the glass, in the clerestory and 
choir, is modern. 

In the sacristy is a remarkable series of per- 

409 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

fectly preserved thirteenth-century sculptures 
in stone which truthfully — with the before- 
mentioned triforum — are the real " art treas- 
ures " of the cathedral. The three naves; the 
nave proper and its flanldng aisles; the tran- 
septs, attenuated though they be; and the 
equally shallow choir, all in some way present 
a really grand effect, at once harmonious and 
pleasing. 

The pavement of the sanctuary is modern, 
as also the high-altar, but both are generously 
good in design. These furnishings are mainly 
of Italian marbles, hung about with tapestries, 
which, if not of superlative excellence, are at 
least effective. 

Modern mural paintings with backgrounds 
in gold decorate the ahside chapels. 

There are many attributes of picturesque 
quality scattered throughout the city: its 
unique trade customs, its shipping, its don- 
keys, and, above any of these, its women them- 
selves picturesque and beautiful. All these 
will give the artist many lively suggestions. 

Not many of the class, however, frequent 
this Biscayan city; which is a loss to art and 
to themselves. A plea is herein made that its 
attractions be better known by those who have 
become ennuied by the " resorts." 

410 



ST. JEAN DE BAZAS 

At the time the grand cathedrals of the 
north of France were taking on their com- 
pleted form, a reflex was making itself felt 
here in the South. Both at Bayonne and 
Bazas were growing into being two beautiful 
churches which partook of many of the attri- 
butes of Gothic art in its most approved form. 

St. Jean de Bazas is supposedly of a tenth- 
century foundation, but its real beginnings, 
so far as its later approved form is concerned, 
came only in 1233. From which time onward 
it came quickly to its completion, or at least 
to its dedication. 

It was three centuries before its west front 
was completed, and when so done — in the 
sixteenth century — it stood out, as it does to- 
day, a splendid example of a fagade, com- 
pletely covered with statues of such propor- 
tions and excellence that it is justly accounted 
the richest in the south of France. 

411 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

It quite equals, in general effect, such well- 
peopled fronts as Amiens or Reims; though 
here the numbers are not so great, and, mani- 
festly, not of as great an excellence. 

This small but well-proportioned church 
has no transepts, but the columnar supports of 
its vaulting presume an effect of length which 
only Gothic in its purest forms suggests. 

The Huguenot rising somewhat depleted 
and greatly damaged the sculptured decora- 
tions of its fagade, and likewise much of the 
interior ornament, but later repairs have done 
much to preserve the effect of the original 
scheme, and the church remains to-day an 
exceedingly gratifying and pleasing example 
of transplanted Gothic forms. 

The diocese dates from the foundation of 
Sextilius, in the sixth century. 



412 



VI 

NOTRE DAME DE LESCAR 

The bishopric here was founded in the fifth 
century by St. Julian, and lasted till the sup- 
pression of 1790; but of all of its importance 
of past ages, which was great, little is left to- 
day of ecclesiastical dignity. 

Lescar itself is an attractive enough small 
town of France, — it contains but a scant two 
thousand inhabitants, — but has no great dis- 
tinction to important rank in any of the walks 
of life; indeed, its very aspect is of a glory 
that has departed. 

It has, however, like so many of the small 
towns of the ancient Beam, a notably fine 
situation: on a high coteau which rises loftily 
above the route nationale which runs from 
Toulouse to Bayonne. 

From the terrace of the former cathedral 
of Notre Dame can be seen the snow-clad 
ridge of the Pyrenees and the umbrageous 
valley and plain which lie between. In this 

413 



The Cathedrals of Southern Fra71.ce 

verdant land there is no suggestion of what 
used — in ignorance or prejudice — to be 
called " an aspect austere and sterile." 

The cathedral itself is bare, unto poverty, 
of tombs and monuments, but a mosaic- 
worked pavement indicates, by its inscriptions 
and symbols, that many faithful and devout 
souls lie buried within the walls. 

The edifice is of imposing proportions, 
though it is not to be classed as truly great. 
From the indications suggested by the heavy 
pillars and grotesquely carved capitals of its 
nave, it is manifest that it has been built up, 
at least in part, from remains of a very early 
date. It mostly dates from the twelfth cen- 
tury, but in that it was rebuilt during the 
period of the Renaissance, it is to the latter 
classification that it really belongs. 

The curiously carved capitals of the col- 
umns of the nave share, with the frescoes of 
the apse, the chief distinction among the ac- 
cessory details. They depict, in their ornate 
and deeply cut heads, dragons and other 
weird beasts of the land and fowls of the air, 
in conjunction with unshapely human figures, 
and while all are intensely grotesque, they are 
in no degree ofifensive. 

There is no exceeding grace or symmetry 

414 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of outline in any of the parts of this church, 
but, nevertheless, it has the inexplicable power 
to please, which counts for a great deal among 
such inanimate things as architectural forms. 
It would perhaps be beyond the powers of 
any one to explain why this is so frequently 
true of a really unassuming church edifice; 
more so, perhaps, with regard to churches 
than to most other things — possibly it is be- 
cause of the local glamour or sentiment which 
so envelops a religious monument, and hovers 
unconsciously and ineradicably over some 
shrines far more than others. At any rate, the 
former cathedral of Notre Dame at Lescar 
has this indefinable quality to a far greater 
degree than many a more ambitiously con- 
ceived fabric. 

The round-arched window and doorway 
most prevail, and the portal in particular is 
of that deeply recessed variety which allows 
a mellow interior to unfold slowly to the gaze, 
rather than jump at once into being, imme- 
diately one has passed the outer lintel or 
jamb. 

The entire suggestion of this church, both 
inside and out, is of a structure far more 
massive and weighty than were really needed 
for a church of its size, but for all that its very 

415 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

stable dimensions were well advised in an edi- 
fice which was expected to endure for ages. 

The entire apse is covered, inside, with a 
series of frescoes of a very acceptable sort, 
which, though much defaced to-day, are the 
principal art attribute of the church. Their 
author is unknown, but they are probably the 
work of some Italian hand, and have even 
been credited to Giotto. 

The choir-stalls are quaintly carved, with 
a luxuriance which, in some manner, ap- 
proaches the Spanish style. They are at least 
representative of that branch of Renaissance 
art which was more representative of the 
highest expression than any other. 

In form, this old cathedral follows the 
basilica plan, and is perhaps two hundred feet 
in length, and some seventy-five in width. 

The grandfather of Henri IV. and his wife 
— la Marguerites des Marguerites — were 
formerly buried in this cathedral, but their 
remains were scattered by either the Hugue- 
nots or the Revolutionists. 

Curiously enough, too, Lescar was the for- 
mer habitation of a Jesuit College, founded 
by Henri IV. after his conversion to the Ro- 
man faith, but no remains of this institution 
exist to-day. 

416 




VII 



l'eglise de la sede: tarbes 



Froissart describes Tarbes as '' a fine large 
town, situated in a plain country; there is a 
city and a town and a castle . . . the beau- 
tiful river Lisse which runs throughout all 
Tharbes, and divides it, the which river is as 
clear as a fountain." 

Froissart himself nods occasionally, and on 
this particular occasion has misnamed the 
river which flows through the cit>^, which is 
the Adour. The rest of his description might 
well apply to-day, and the city is most charm- 
ingly and romantically environed. 

417 



The Cathedrals of So^Uhern France 

Its cathedral will not receive the same adu- 
lation which is bestowed upon the charms of 
the city itself. It is a poor thing, not unlike, 
in appearance, a market-house or a third-rate 
town hall of some mean municipality. 

Once the Black Prince and his " fair maid 
of Kent " came to this town of the Bigorre, 
to see the Count of Armagnac, under rather 
doleful circumstances for the count, who was 
in prison and in debt to Gaston Phoebus for 
the amount of his ransom. 

The ^' fair maid," however, appears to have 
played the part of a good fairy, and prevailed 
upon the magnificent Phoebus to reduce the 
ransom to the extent of fifty thousand francs. 

In this incident alone there lies a story, of 
which all may read in history, and which is 
especially recommended to those writers of 
swash-buckler romances who may feel in need 
of a new plot. 

There is little in Tarbes but the memory 
of a fair past to compel attention from the 
lover of antiquity, of churches, or of art; and 
there are no remains of any note — even of 
the time when the Black Prince held his court 
here. 

The bishopric is very ancient, and dates 
from the sixth century, when St. Justin first 

418 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

filled the office. In spite of this, however, 
there is very little inspiration to be derived 
from a study of this quite unconvincing ca- 
thedral, locally known as the Eglise de la 
Sede. 

This Romanesque-Transition church, 
though dating from the twelfth and thir- 
teenth centuries, has neither the strength and 
character of the older style, nor the vigour of 
the new. 

The nave is wide, but short, and has no 
aisles. At the transept is a superimposed oc- 
tagonal cupola, which is quite unbeautiful and 
unnecessary. It is a fourteenth-century addi- 
tion which finally oppresses this ungainly 
heavy edifice beyond the hope of redemption. 

Built upon the facade is a Renaissance 
portal which of itself would be a disfigure- 
ment anywhere, but which here gives the final 
blow to a structure w^hich is unappealing from 
every point. 

The present-day prefecture was the former 
episcopal residence. 

The bishopric, which to-day has jurisdic- 
tion over the Department of the Hautes-Pyr- 
enees, is a suffragan of the mother-see of 
Auch. 



419 



VIII 

CATHEDRALE DE CONDOM 

The history of Condom as an ecclesiastical 
see is very brief. 

It was established only in 13 17, on an an- 
cient abbey foundation, whose inception is 
unknown. 

For three centuries only was it endowed 
with diocesan dignity. Its last titulaire was 
Bishop Bossuet. 

The fine Gothic church, which was so short- 
lived as a cathedral, is more worthy of admi- 
ration than many grander and more ancient. 

It dates from the early sixteenth century, 
and shows all the distinct marks of its era; 
but it is a most interesting church neverthe- 
less, and is possessed of a fine unworldly clois- 
ter, which as much as many another — more 
famous or more magnificent — must have 
been conducive to inspired meditation. 

The portal rises to a considerable height 

420 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of elegance, but the fagade is otherwise aus- 
tere. 

In the interior, a choir-screen in cut stone 
is the chief artistic treasure. The sacristy is 
a finely decorated and beautifully propor- 
tioned room. 

In the choir is a series of red brick or 
terra-cotta stalls of poor design and of no 
artistic value whatever. 

The ancient residence of the bishops is now 
the Hotel de Ville, and is a good example of 
late Gothic domestic architecture. It is de- 
cidedly the architectural piece de resistance 
of the town. 



421 



IX 

CATHEDRALE DE MONTAUBAN 

MONTAUBAN, the location of an ancient 
abbey, was created a bishopric, in the Prov- 
ince of Toulouse, in 13 17, under Bertrand du 
Puy. It was a suffragan of the see of Tou- 
louse after that city had been made an arch- 
bishopric in the same year, a rank it virtually 
holds to-day, though the mother-see is now 
known by the double vocable of Toulouse- 
Narbonne. 

Montauban is in many ways a remarkable 
little city; remarkable for its tidy pictur- 
esqueness, for its admirable situation, for the 
added attraction of the river Tarn, which 
rushes tumblingly past its quais on its way 
from the Gorges to the Garonne; in short, 
Montauban Is a most fascinating centre of a 
life and activity, not so modern that it jars, 
nor yet so mediaeval that It is uncomfortably 
squalid. 

422 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The lover of architecture will interest him- 
self far more in the thirteenth-century bridge 
of bricks which crosses the Tarn on seven 
ogival arches, than he will in the painfully 
ordinary and unworthy cathedral, which is a 
combination of most of the undesirable fea- 
tures of Renaissance church-building. 

The fagade is, moreover, set about with a 
series of enormous sculptured effigies perched 
indiscriminately wherever it would appear 
that a foothold presented itself. There are 
still a few unoccupied niches and cornices, 
which some day may yet be peopled with 
other figures as gaunt. 

Two ungraceful towers flank a classical 
portico, one of which is possessed of the usual 
ludicrous clock-face. 

The interior, with its unusual flood of light 
from the windows of the clerestory, is cold 
and bare. Its imposed pilasters and heavy 
cornices are little in keeping with the true 
conception of Christian architecture, and its 
great height of nave — some eighty odd feet 
— lends a further chilliness to one's already 
lukewarm appreciation. 

The one artistic detail of Montauban's ca- 
thedral is the fine painting by Ingres (1781 — 
1867) to be seen in the sacristy, if by any 

423 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

chance you can find the sacristan — which is 
doubtful. It is one of this artist's most cele- 
brated paintings, and is commonly referred 
to as '' The Vow of Louis XIII." 



424 



I 



X 

ST. ETIENNE DE CAHORS 

St. Genulphe was the first bishop of Ca- 
hors, in the fourth century. The diocese was 
then, as now, a suffragan of Albi. The cathe- 
dral of St. Etienne was consecrated in 1119, 
but has since — and many times — been re- 
built and restored. 

This church is but one of the many of its 
class, built in Aquitaine at this period, which 
employed the cupola as a distinct feature. It 
shares this attribute in common with the ca- 
thedrals at Poitiers, Perigueux, and Angou- 
leme, and the great churches of Solignac, 
Fontevrault, and Souillac, and is commonly 
supposed to be an importation or adaptation 
of the domes of St. Marc's at Venice. 

A distinct feature of this development is 
that, while transepts may or may not be want- 
ing, the structures are nearly always without 
side aisles. 

What manner of architecture this style may 

4^5 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

presume to be is impossible to discuss here, 
but it is manifestly not Byzantine pur-sang, 
as most guide-books would have the tourist 
believe. 

Although much mutilated in many of its 
accessories and details, the cathedral at Ca- 
hors fairly illustrates its original plan. 

There are no transepts, and the nave is wide 
and short, its area being entirely roofed by 
the two circular cupolas, each perhaps fifty 
feet in diameter. In height these two details 
depart from the true hemisphere, as has al- 
ways been usual in dome construction. There 
were discovered, as late as 1890, in this church, 
many mural paintings of great interest. Of 
the greatest importance was that in the west- 
erly cupola, which presents an entire com- 
position, drawn in black and colour. 

The cupola is perhaps forty feet in diame- 
ter, and is divided by the decorations into 
eight sectors. The principal features of this 
remarkable decoration are the figures of eight 
of the prophets, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, 
Jonah, Ezra, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Habakkuk, 
each a dozen or more feet in height. 

Taken as a whole, in spite of their recent 
discovery, these elaborate decorations are 
supposed to have been undertaken by or under 

426 



The Cathedrals of Soiithent France 

the direction of the bishops who held the see 
from 1280 to 1324; most likely under Hugo 
Geraldi (1312 — 16), the friend of Pope 
Clement V. and of the King of France. This 
churchman was burned to death at Avignon, 
and the see was afterward administered by 
procuration by Guillaume de Labroa (13 16 — • 
1324), who lived at Avignon. 

It is then permissible to think that these 
w^all-paintings of the cathedral at Cahors are 
perhaps unique in France. Including its sus- 
taining wall, one of the cupolas rises to a 
height of eighty-two feet, and the other to 
one hundred and five feet. 

The north portal is richly sculptured; and 
the choir, with its fifteenth-century ogival 
chapels, has been rebuilt from the original 
work of 1285. 

The interior, since the recently discovered 
frescoes of the cupolas, presents an exceed- 
ingly rich appearance, though there are ac- 
tually few decorative constructive elements. 

The apse of the choir is naturally pointed, 
as its era would indicate, and its chapels are 
ornamented with frescoes of the time of Louis 
XII.; neither very good nor very bad, but 
in no way comparable to the decorations of 
the cupolas. 

427 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The only monument of note in the interior 
is the tomb of Bishop Alain de Solminiac 
(seventeenth century). 

The paintings of the choir are supposed to 
date from 13 15, which certainly places them 
at a very early date. A doorway in the right 
of the nave gives on the fifteenth-century 
cloister, which, though fragmentary, must at 
one time have been a very satisfactory exam- 
ple. The ancient episcopal palace is now the 
prefecture. The bishop originally bore the 
provisional title of Count of Cahors, and was 
entitled to wear a sword and gauntlets, and it 
is recorded that he was received, upon his 
accession to the diocese, by the Vicomte de 
Sessac, who, attired in a grotesque garb, con- 
ducted him to his palace amid a ceremony 
which to-day would be accounted as buffoon- 
ery pure and simple. From the accounts of 
this ceremony, it could not have been very 
dignified or inspiring. 

The history of Cahors abounds in romantic 
incident, and its capture by Henry of Navarre 
in 1580 was a brilliant exploit. 

Cahors was the birthplace of one of the 
French Popes of Avignon, John XXII. (who 
IS buried in Notre Dame des Doms at Avi- 
gnon). 

428 



XI 

ST. CAPRAIS D'AGEN 

Agen, with Cahors, Tulle, Limoges, Peri- 
gueux, Angouleme, and Poitiers, are, in a 
way, in a class of themselves with respect to 
their cathedrals. They have not favoured 
aggrandizement, or even restoration to the 
extent of mitigating the sentiment which will 
always surround a really ancient fabric. 

The cathedral at Bordeaux came strongly 
under the Gothic spell; so did that at Cler- 
mont-Ferrand, and St. Nazaire, in the Cite 
de Carcassonne. But those before mentioned 
did not, to any appreciable extent, come under 
the influence of the new style affected by the 
architects of the Isle of France during the 
times of Philippe- Auguste (d. 1223). 

At the death of Philippe le Bel (13 14), the 
royal domain was considerably extended, 
and the cathedrals at Montpellier, Carcas- 
sonne, and Narbonne succumbed and took on 
Gothic features. 

429 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The diocese of Agen was founded in the 
fourth century as a suffragan of Bordeaux. 
Its first bishop was St. Pherade. To-day the 
diocese is still under the parent jurisdiction 
of Bordeaux, and the see comprises the de- 
partment of Lot-et-Garonne. 

A former cathedral church — St. Etienne 
— ^was destroyed at the Revolution. 

The Romanesque cathedral of St. Caprais 
dates, as to its apses and transepts, from the 
eleventh century. 

Its size is not commonly accredited great, 
but for a fact its nave is over fifty-five feet in 
width; greater than Chartres, and nearly as 
great as Amiens in the north. 

This is a comparison which will show how 
futile it is not to take into consideration the 
peers, compeers, or contemporaries of archi- 
tectural types when striving to impress its 
salient features upon one's senses. 

This immense vault is covered with a series 
of cupolas of a modified form which finally 
take the feature of the early development of 
the ogival arch. This, then, ranks as one of 
the early transitions between barrel-vaulted 
and domed roofs, and the Gothic arched 
vaulting which became so common in the 
century following. 

430 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

As to the general ground-plan, the area is 
not great. Its Romanesque nave is stunted 
in length, if not in width, and the transepts 
are equally contracted. The choir is semi- 
circular, and the general effect is that of a 
tri-apsed church, seldom seen beyond the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of the Rhine valley. 

The interior effect is considerably marred 
by the modern mural frescoes by Bezard, after 
a supposed old manner. The combination of 
colour can only be described as polychro- 
matic, and the effect is not good. 

There are a series of Roman capitals in 
the nave, which are of more decided artistic 
worth and interest than any other distinct 
feature. 

At the side of the cathedral is the Chapelle 
des Innocents, the ancient chapter-house of 
St. Caprais, now used as the chapel of the 
college. Its fagade has some remarkable 
sculptures, and its interior attractions of curi- 
ously carved capitals and some tombs — sup- 
posed to date from the first years of the Chris- 
tian era — are of as great interest as any of 
the specific features of the cathedral proper. 



431 



XII 

STE. MARIE D'AUCH 

The first bishop of Auch was Citerius, In 
the fourth century. Subsequently the Prov- 
ince d'Auch became the see of an archbishop, 
who was Primate of Aquitaine. This came 
to pass when the office was abolished or trans- 
ferred from Eauze in the eighth century. 
The diocese is thus established in antiquity, 
and endures to-day with suffragans at Aire, 
Tarbes, and Bayonne. 

The cathedral of Ste. Marie d'Auch is not 
of itself an ancient structure, dating only from 
the late fifteenth century. Its choir, however, 
ranks among the most celebrated in the Gothic 
style in all Europe, and the entire edifice is 
usually accorded as being the most thoroughly 
characteristic (though varied as to the excel- 
lence of its details) church of the Midi of 
France, though built at a time when the ogival 
style was projecting its last rays of glory over 
the land. 

432 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

In its general plan it is of generous though 
not majestic proportions, and is rich and as- 
piring in its details throughout. 

An ancient altar in this present church is 
supposed to have come from the humble basil- 
ica which was erected here by St. Taurin, 
bishop of Eauze, soon after the foundation of 
the see. If this is so, it is certainly of great 
antiquity, and is exceedingly valuable as the 
record of an art expression of that early day. 

Taurin II., in 845, rebuilt a former church, 
which stood on the site of the present cathe- 
dral; but, its dimensions not proving great 
enough for the needs of the congregation, St. 
Austinde, in 1048, built a much larger church, 
which was consecrated early in the twelfth 
century. 

Various other structures were undertaken, 
some completed only in part and others to the 
full; but it was not until 1548 that the pres- 
ent Ste. Marie was actually consecrated by 
Jean Dumas. 

'' This gorgeous ceremony," says the Abbe 
Bourasse, ^' was accomplished amid great 
pomp on the anniversary day of the dedica- 
tion of the eleventh-century basilica on the 
same site." 

In 1597 further additions were made to the 

433 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

vaulting, and the fine choir glass added. Soon 
after this time, the glass of the nave chapels 
was put into place, being the gift of Domi- 
nique de Vic. The final building operations 
— as might be expected — show just the least 
suspicion of debasement. This quality is to 
be remarked in the choir-screen, the porch 
and towers, and in the balustrades of the 
chapels, to say nothing of the organ sup- 
ports. 

The west front is, in part, as late as the sev- 
enteenth century. 

In this fagade there is an elaborately tracer- 
ied rose window, indicating in its painted 
glass a " Glory of Angels." It is not a great 
work, as these chief decorative features of 
French mediaeval architecture go, but is 
highly ornate by reason of its florid tracery, 
and dates, moreover, from that period when 
the really great accomplishment of designing 
in painted glass was approaching its maturity. 

If any feature of remark exists to excite 
undue criticism, it is that of a certain incon- 
gruity or mixture of style, which, while not 
widely separated in point of time, has great 
variation as to excellence. 

In spite of this there is, in the general 
ensemble, an imposing picturesqueness to 

434 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

which distance lends the proverbial degree 
of enchantment. 

The warm mouse-coloured cathedral and 
its archbishop's palace, when seen in con- 
junction with the modern ornamental gardens 
and escalier at the rear, produces an effect 
more nearly akin to an Italian composition 
than anything of a like nature in France. 

It is an ensemble most interesting and 
pleasing, but as a worthy artistic effort it does 
perhaps fall short of the ideal. 

The westerly towers are curious heavy 
works after the " French Classical " manner 
in vogue during the reign of Louis XIV. 
They are not beautiful of themselves, and 
quite unexpressive of the sanctity which 
should surround a great church. 

The portal is richly decorated, and con- 
tains statues of St. Roche and St. Austinde. 
It has been called an ^' imitation of the portal 
of St. Peter's at Rome," but this is an opinion 
wholly unwarranted by a personal acquaint- 
ance therewith. The two bear no resemblance 
except that they are both very inferior to the 
magnificent Gothic portals of the north. 

The interior embellishments are as mixed 
as to style, and of as varied worth, as those 
of the exterior. 

435 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The painted glass (by a Gascon artist, Ar- 
naud de Moles, 1573) is usually reckoned as 
of great beauty. This it hardly is, though of 
great value and importance as showing the 
development of the art which produced it. 
The colour is rich, — which it seldom is in 
modern glass, — but the design is coarse and 
crude, a distinction that most modern glass 
has as well. Ergo, we have not advanced 
greatly in this art. 

The chief feature of artistic merit is the 
series of one hundred and thirteen choir-stalls, 
richly and wonderfully carved in wood. If 
not the superior to any others in France, these 
remarkable examples of Renaissance wood- 
work are the equal of any, and demonstrate, 
once again, that it was in wood-carving, 
rather than sculptures in stone, that Renais- 
sance art achieved its greatest success. 

A distinct feature is the disposition made 
of the accessories of the fine choir. It is sur- 
rounded by an elaborate screen, surmounted 
by sculpture of a richness quite uncommon 
in any but the grander and more wealthy 
churches. 

Under the reign of St. Louis many of the 
grand cathedrals and the larger monastic 
churches were grandly favoured with this 

436 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

accessory, notably at Amiens and Beauvais, 
at Burgos in Spain, and at Canterbury. 

Here the elaborate screen was designed to 
protect the ranges of stalls and their canopied 
dossiers, and give a certain seclusion to the 
chapter and officiants. 

Elsewhere — out of regard for the people 
it is to be presumed — this feature was in 
many known instances done away with, and 
the material of which it was constructed — 
often of great richness — made use of in 
chapels subsequently erected in the walls of 
the apside or in the side aisles of the nave. 
This is to be remarked at Rodez particularly, 
where the reerected cloture is still the show- 
piece of the cathedral. 

The organ buffet is, as usual (in the minds 
of the local resident), a remarkably fine piece 
of cabinet-work and nothing more. One al- 
ways qualifies this by venturing the opinion 
that no one ever really does admire these over- 
powering and ungainly accessories. 

What triforium there is is squat and ugly, 
with ungraceful openings, and the high-altar 
is a modern work in the pseudo-classic style, 
quite unworthy as a work of art. 

The five apsidal chapels are brilliant with 



437 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

coloured glass, but otherwise are not remark- 
able. 

In spite of all incongruity, Ste. Marie 
d'Auch is one of those fascinating churches 
in and about which one loves to linger. It 
is hard to explain the reason for this, ex- 
cept that its environment provides the atmos- 
phere which is the one necessary ingredient to 
a full realization of the appealing qualities of 
a stately church. 

The archiepiscopal palace adjoins the ca- 
thedral in the rear, and has a noble donjon 
of the fourteenth century. Its career of the 
past must have been quite uneventful, as his- 
tory records no very bloody or riotous events 
which have taken place within or before its 
walls. 

Fenelon was a student at the College of 
Auch, and his statue adorns the Promenade 
du Fosse. 



438 




s 



T. ETIENNE . 
de TOULOUSE 



XIII 

ST. ETIENNE DE TOULOUSE 

The provincialism of Toulouse has been 
the theme of many a French writer of ability, 
— offensively provincial, it would seem from 
a consensus of these written opinions. 

" Life and movement in abundance, but 
what a life! " . . . " The native is saved from 
coarseness by his birth, but after a quarter 
of an hour the substratum shows itself." . . . 
" The working girl is graceful and has the 
vivacity of a bird, but there is nothing in her 
cackle.'^ ..." How much more beautiful 
are the stars that mirror themselves in the 
gutter of the Rue du Bac." ..." There is 
a yelp in the accents of the people of the 
town." 

Contrariwise we may learn also that " the 
water is fine," " the quays are fine," and " fine 
large buildings glow in the setting sun in 
bright and softened hues," and " in the far 
distance lies the chain of the Pyrenees, like 

439 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

a white bed of watery clouds," and " the river, 
dressed always in smiling verdure, gracefully 
skirts the city." 

These pessimistic and optimistic views of 
others found the contributors to this book in 
somewhat of a quandary as to the manner 
of mood and spirit in which they should ap- 
proach this provincial capital. 

They had heard marvels of its Romanesque 
church of St. Saturnin, perhaps the most 
perfect and elaborate of any of its kind in all 
France; of the curious amalgamated edifice, 
now the cathedral of St. Etienne, wherein two 
distinct church bodies are joined by an un- 
seemly ligature; of the church of the Jaco- 
bins ; and of the " seventy-seven religious 
establishments " enumerated by Taine. 

All these, or less, were enough to induce 
one to cast suspicion aside and descend upon 
the city with an open mind. 

Two things one must admit: Toulouse does 
somewhat approach the gaiety of a capital, 
and it is provincial. 

Its list of attractions for the visitor is 
great, and its churches numerous and splen- 
did, so why carp at the " ape-like manners " 
of the corner loafers, who, when all is said, 



440 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

are vastly less in number here than in many 
a northern centre of population. 

The Musee is charming, both as to the dis- 
position of its parts and its contents. It was 
once a convent, and has a square courtyard or 
promenade surrounded by an arcade. The 
courtyard is set about with green shrubs, and 
a lofty brick tower, pierced with little arched 
windows and mullioned with tiny columns, 
rises skyward in true conventual fashion. 

Altogether the Musee, in the attractiveness 
of its fabric and the size and importance of 
its collections, must rank, for interest to the 
tourist, at the very head of those outside Paris 
itself. 

As for the churches, there are many, the 
three greatest of which are the cathedral of 
St. Etienne, St. Saturnin, and the Eglise des 
Jacobins; in all is to be observed the uni- 
versal application or adoption of des mate- 
riaux du pays — bricks. 

In the cathedral tower, and in that of the 
figlise des Jacobins, a Gothic scheme is 
worked out in these warm-toned bricks, and 
forms, in contrast with the usual execution of 
a Gothic design, a most extraordinary effect; 
not wholly to the detriment of the style, but 
certainly not In keeping with the original 

441 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

conception and development of " pointed " 
architecture. 

In 1863 Viollet-le-Duc thoroughly and 
creditably restored St. Saturnin at great ex- 
pense, and by this treatment it remains to-day 
as the most perfectly preserved work extant 
of its class. 

It is vast, curious, and in a rather mixed 
style, though thoroughly Latin in motive. 

It is on the border-line of two styles; of 
the Italian, with respect to the full semicir- 
cular arches and vaulting of the nave and 
aisles; the square pillars destitute of all orna- 
ment, except another column standing out in 
flat relief — an intimation of the quiet and 
placid force of their functions. 

With the transition comes a change in the 
flowered capitals, from the acanthus to tracery 
and grotesque animals. 

There are five domes covering the five 
aisles, each with a semicircular vault. The 
walls, with their infrequent windows, are very 
thick. 

The delightful belfry — of five octagonal 
stages — which rises from the crossing of the 
transepts, presents, from the outside, a fine 
and imposing arrangement. So, too, the 
chapelled choir, with its apse of rounded 

442 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

vaults rising in imposing tiers. This fine 
church is in direct descent from the Roman 
manner; built and developed as a simple idea, 
and, like all antique and classical work, — 
approaching purity, — is a living thing, in 
spite of the fact that it depicts the sentiment 
of a dead and gone past. 

It might not be so successfully duplicated 
to-day, but, considering that St. Saturnin 
dates from the eleventh century, its com- 
mencement was sufficiently in the remote past 
to allow of its having been promulgated under 
a direct and vigorous Roman influence. 

The brick construction of St. Saturnin and 
of the cathedral is not of that justly admired 
quality seen in the ancient Convent of the 
Jacobins, which dates from the thirteenth 
century. Here is made perhaps the most 
beautiful use of this style of mediaeval build- 
ing. It is earlier than the Pont de Montau- 
ban, the churches at Moissac or Lombez, and 
even the cathedral at Albi, but much later 
than the true Romanesque brickwork, which 
alternated rows of brick with other materials. 

The builders of Gallo-Romain and Mer- 
ovingian times favoured this earlier method, 
but work in this style is seldom met with of 
a later date than the ninth century. 

443 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The Eglise of St. Saturnin shows, in parts, 
brickwork of a century earlier than the Eglise 
des Jacobins, but, as before said, it is not so 
beautiful. 

When the Renaissance came to deal with 
hrique, it did not do so badly. Certainly the 
domestic and civil establishments of Touraine 
in this style — to particularize only one sec- 
tion — are very beautiful. Why the revival 
was productive of so much thorough badness 
when it dealt with stone is one of the things 
which the expert has not as yet attempted to 
explain; at least, not convincingly. 

The contrasting blend of the northern and 
southern motive in the hybrid cathedral at 
Toulouse will not remain unnoticed for long 
after the first sensation of surprise at its curi- 
ous ground-plan passes off. 

Here are seen a flamboyant northern choir 
and aisles in strange juxtaposition with a 
thirteenth-century single vaulted nave, after 
the purely indigenous southern manner. 

This nave nearly equals in immensity those 
in the cathedrals of Albi and Bordeaux. It 
has the great span of sixty-two feet, necessi- 
tating the employment of huge buttresses, 
which would be remarkable anywhere, in 
order to take the thrust. The unobstructed 

444 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

flooring of this splendid nave lends an added 
dignity of vastness. Near the vaulted roof 
are the only apertures in the walls. Windows, 
as one knows them elsewhere, are practicaHy 
absent. 




Nave of St. Etienne de Toulouse 



The congregations which assemble in this 
great aisleless nave present a curiously ani- 
mated effect by reason of the fact that they 
scatter themselves about in knots or groups 
rather than crowding against either the altar- 

445 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

rail or pulpit, occasionally even overflowing 
into the adjoining choir. The nave is entirely 
unobstructed by decorations, such as screens, 
pillars, or tombs. It is a mere shell, sans gal- 
lery, sans aisles, and sans triforium. 

The development of the structure from the 
individual members of nave and choir is 
readily traced, and though these parts show 
not the slightest kind of relationship one to 
the other, it is from these two fragmentary 
churches that the completed, if imperfect, 
whole has been made. 

The west front, to-day more than ever, 
shows how badly the cathedral has been put 
together; the uncovered bricks creep out here 
and there, and buildings to the left, which 
formerly covered the incongruous joint be- 
tween the nave and choir, are now razed, 
making the patchwork even more apparent. 
The square tower which flanks the portal to 
the north is not unpleasing, and dates from 
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The 
portal is not particularly beautiful, and is 
bare of decorations of note. It appears to 
have been remodelled at some past time with 
a view to conserving the western rose win- 
dow. 

There are no transepts or collateral chapels, 

446 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

which tends to make the ground-plan the 
more unusual and lacking in symmetry. 

The choir (1275 — 1502) is really very 
beautiful, taken by itself, far more so than 
the nave, from which it is extended on a dif- 
ferent axis. 

It was restored after a seventeenth-century 
fire, and is supposed to be less beautiful to-day 
than formerly. 

There are seventeen chapels in this choir, 
with much coloured glass of the fifteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, all with weird poly- 
chromatic decorations in decidedly bad taste. 

Toulouse became a bishopric in the third 
century, with St. Saturnin as its first bishop. 
It was raised to the rank of archiepiscopal 
dignity in 1327, a distinction which it enjoys 
to-day in company with Narbonne. Six 
former suffragan bishoprics, Pamiers, Rieux, 
Mirepoix, Saint-Papoul, Lombez, and La- 
vaur were suppressed at the Revolution. 

In the magnificent Musee of the city is un 
petit monument, without an inscription, but 
bearing a cross gammee or Swastika, and a 
palm-leaf, symbols of the divine Apollo and 
Artemis. It seems curious that this tiny rec- 
ord in stone should have been found, as it 
was, in the mountains which separate the 

447 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

sources of the Garonne and the Adour, as the 
Swastika is a symbol supposedly indigenous 
to the fire and sun-worshippers of the East, 
where it figures in a great number of their 
monuments. 

It is called, by the local antiquary, a Pyre- 
nean altar. If this is so, it is of course of 
pagan origin, and is in no way connected with 
Christian art. 



448 






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XIV 

ST. NAZAIRE DE CARCASSONNE 

With old and new Carcassonne one finds 
a contrast, if not as great as between the 
hyphenated Hungarian cities of Buda and 
Pest, at least as marked in detail. 

In most European settlements, where an 
old municipality adjoins a modern one, walls 
have been razed, moats filled, and much gen- 
eral modernization has been undertaken. 

With Carcassonne this is not so; its wind- 
ing ways, its culs-de-sacs, narrow alleys, and 
towering walls remain much as they always 
were, and the great stronghold of the Middle 
Ages, vulnerable — as history tells — from 
but one point, remains to-day, after its ad- 
mirable restoration of roof and capstone, 
much as it was in the days when modern Car- 
cassonne was but a scattering hamlet beneath 
the walls of the older fortification. 

One thing will always be recalled, and that 

449 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

is that a part of the enceinte of the ancient 
Cite was a construction of the sixth century 
— the days of the Visigoths — and that its 
subsequent development into an almost in- 
vulnerable fortress was but the endorsement 
which later centuries gave to the work and 
forethought of a people who were supposed 
to possess no arts, and very little of ingenuity. 

This should suggest a line of investigation 
to one so minded; while for us, who regard 
the ancient walls merely as a boundary which 
sheltered and protected a charming Gothic 
church, it is perhaps sufficient to recall the 
inconsistency in many previous estimates as 
to what great abilities, if any, the Goths pos- 
sessed. 

If it is true that the Visigoths merely fol- 
lowed Roman tradition, so much the more 
creditable to them that they preserved these 
ancient walls to the glory of those who came 
after, and but added to the general plan. 

Old and new Carcassonne, as one might 
call them, in the sixteenth and seventeenth 
centuries had each their own magistrates and 
a separate government. The Cite, elevated 
above the ville, held also the garrison, the 
presidial seat, and the first seneschalship of 
the province. 

450 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

The bishopric of the Cite is not so ancient 
as the ville itself; for the first prelate there 
whose name is found upon record was one 
Sergius, " who subscribed to a ' Council ' held 
at Narbonne in 590." 

St. Hilaire, who founded the abbey at Poi- 





The Old Cite de Carcassonne before and after the Restoration 



tiers, came perhaps before Sergius, but his 
tenure is obscure as to Its exact date. 

The cathedral of St. Michel, in the lower 
town, has been, since 1803, the seat of the 
bishop's throne. 

It Is a work unique, perhaps, in its design, 

45 T 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

but entirely unfeeling and preposterous in its 
overelaborate decorations. It has a long par- 
allelogram-like nave, '^ entierement peinte," 
as the custodian refers to it. It has, to be sure, 
a grand vault, strong and broad, but there are 
no aisles, and the chapels which flank this 
gross nave are mere painted boxes. 

Episcopal dignity demanded that some 
show of importance should be given to the 
cathedral, and it was placed in the hands of 
Viollet-le-Duc in 1849 for restoration. What- 
ever his labours may have been, he doubtless 
was not much in sympathy with this clumsy 
fabric, and merely " restored " it in some 
measure approaching its twelfth-century 
form. 

It is with St. Nazaire de Carcassonne, the 
tiny eglise of the old Cite and the ci-devant 
cathedral that we have to do. 

This most fascinating church, fascinating 
for itself none the less than its unique envi- 
ronment, is, in spite of the extended centuries 
of its growth, almost the equal in the purity 
of its Gothic to that of St. Urbain at Troyes. 
And this, in spite of evidences of rather bad 
joining up of certain warring constructive 
elements. 

The structure readily composes itself into 

452 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

two distinct parts: that of the Romanesque 
(round arch and barrel vault) era and that 
of the Gothic of the thirteenth and fourteenth 
centuries. 

No consideration of St. Nazaire de Car- 
cassonne is possible without first coming to 
a realization of the construction and the func- 
tions of the splendidly picturesque and effect- 
ive ramparts which enclosed the ancient Cite, 
its cathedral, chateaux, and various civil and 
domestic establishments. 

In brief, its history and chronology com- 
mences with the Visigoth foundation, extend- 
ing from the fifth to the eighth centuries to 
the time (1356) when it successfully resisted 
the Black Prince in his bloody ravage, by 
sword and fire, of all of Languedoc. 

Legend has it that in Charlemagne's time, 
after that monarch had besieged the town for 
many years and was about to raise the siege 
in despair, a certain tower, — which flanked 
the chateau, — defended only by a Gauloise 
known as Carcaso, suddenly gave way and 
opened a breach by which the army was at 
last able to enter. 

A rude figure perpetuating the fame of this 
Madame Carcaso — a veritable Amazon, it 



453 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

would seem — is still seen, rudely carved, 
over the Porte Narbonnaise. 

It is the inner line of ramparts which dates 
from the earliest period. The chateau, the 
postern-gate, and most of the interior con- 
struction are of the eleventh and twelfth cen- 






? T 

Two Capitals of Pillars in St. Nazaire de Carcassonne ; 
and the Rtide Stone Carving of Carcas 



turies, while the outer fortification is of the 
time of St. Louis, the latter part of the thir- 
teenth century. 

The Saracens successfully attacked and oc- 
cupied the city from 713 to 759, but were 
routed by Pepin-le-Bref. In 1090 was first 
founded the strong vicomtale dynasty of the 

454 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Trencavels. In 1210 the Crusaders, under 
Simon de Montfort and the implacable Abbot 
of Citeaux, laid siege to the Cite, an act which 
resulted in the final massacre, fifty of the be- 
sieged — who surrendered — being hanged, 
and four hundred burned alive. 

In addition to the walls and ramparts were 
fifty circular protecting towers. The extreme 
length of the inner enclosure is perhaps three- 
quarters of a mile, and of the outer nearly a 
full mile. 

It is impossible to describe the magnitude 
and splendour of these city walls, which, up 
to the time of their restoration by Viollet- 
le-Duc, had scarcely crumbled at all. The 
upper ranges of the towers, roof-tops, ram- 
parts, etc., had become broken, of course, and 
the sky-line had become serrated, but the 
walls, their foundations, and their outline 
plan had endured as few works of such mag- 
nitude have before or since. 

Carcassonne, its history, its romance, and its 
picturesque qualities, has ever appealed to 
the poet, painter, and historian alike. 

Something of the halo of sentiment which 
surrounds this marvellous fortified city will 
be gathered from the following praiseful ad- 
miration by Gustave Nadaud: 

455 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 



CARCASSONNE 

" * I'm growing old, I've sixty years; 

I've laboured all my life in vain; 
In all that time of hopes and fears 

I've failed my dearest wish to gain; 
I see full well that here below 

Bliss unalloyed there is for none. 
My prayer will ne'er fulfilment know; 

I never have seen Carcassonne, 

I never have seen Carcassonne! 

" * You see the city from the hill — 

It lies beyond the mountains blue, 

And yet to reach it one must still 
Five long and weary leagues pursue, 

And, to return, as many more! 

Ah! had the vintage plenteous grown, 

The grape withheld its yellow store! 
I shall not look on Carcassonne, 
I shall not look on Carcassonne! 

'* * They tell me every day is there 

Not more nor less than Sunday gay; 

In shining robes and garments fair 
The people walk upon their way. 

One gazes there on castle walls 
As grand as those of Babylon, 

A bishop and two generals! 

I do not know fair Carcassonne, 
I do not know fair Carcassonne! 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

*' * The cure's right; he says that we 

Are ever wayward, weak, and blind; 

He tells us in his homily 
Arhbition ruins all mankind ; 

Yet could I there two days have spent, 
While the autumn sweetly shone. 

Ah, me! I might have died content 
When I had looked on Carcassonne, 
When I had looked on Carcassonne! 



(( ( 



Thy pardon. Father, I beseech. 
In this my prayer if I offend ; 

One something sees beyond his reach 
From childhood to his journey's end. 

My wife, our little boy, Aignan, 
Have travelled even to Narbonne, 

My grandchild has seen Perpignan, 
And I have not seen Carcassonne, 
And I have not seen Carcassonne ! ' 

**So crooned one day, close by Limoux, 
A peasant double bent with age, 

* Rise up, my friend,' said I, * with you 
I'll go upon this pilgrimage.' 

We left next morning his abode, 

But (Heaven forgive him) half way on 

The old man • died upon the road ; 
He never gazed on Carcassonne, 
Each mortal has his Carcassonne!'* 



St. Nazaire is possessed of a Romanesque 
nave which dates from 1096, but the choir 

457 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

and transepts are of the most acceptable 
Gothic forms of the thirteenth and fourteenth 
centuries. 

This choir is readily accounted as a master- 
work of elegance, is purely northern in style 
and treatment, and possesses also those other 
attributes of the perfectionnement of the style 
— fine glass, delicate fenestration, and super- 
lative grace throughout, as contrasted with 
the heavier and more cold details of the Ro- 
manesque variety. 

The nave was dedicated by Urbain II., and 
was doubtless intended for defence, if its 
square, firmly bedded towers and piers are 
suggestive of that quality. The principal 
porte — it does not rise to the grandeur of 
a portail — is a thorough Roman example. 
The interior, with its great piers, its rough 
barrel-vault, and its general lack of grace and 
elegance, bespeaks its functions as a strong- 
hold. A Romanesque tower in its original 
form stands on the side which adjoins the 
ramparts. 

With the choir comes the contrast, both 
inside and out. 

The apside, the transepts, the eleven gor- 
geous windows, and the extreme grace of its 
piers and vaulting, all combine in the fullest 

458 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

expression of the architectural art of its 
time. 

This admirable Gothic addition was the 
work of Bishop Pierre de Rochefort in 1321. 
The transept chapels and the apse are framed 
with light soaring arches, and the great east- 
erly windows are set with brilliant glass. 

In a side chapel is the former tomb of 
Simon de Montfort, whose remains were 
buried here in 12 18. At a subsequent time 
they were removed to Montfort TAmaury in 
the Isle of France. Another remarkable 
tomb is that of Bishop Radulph (1266). It 
shows an unusually elaborate sculptured treat- 
ment for its time, and is most ornate and beau- 
tiful. 

In the choir are many fine fourteenth-cen- 
tury statues; a tomb with a sleeping figure, 
thought to be that of Bishop du Puy of Car- 
cassonne; statues of the Virgin, St. Nazaire, 
and the twelve apostles; an elaborate high- 
altar; and a pair of magnificent candlesticks, 
bearing the arms of Bishop Martin (1522). 

An eleventh-century crypt lies beneath the 
choir. The sacristy, as it is to-day, was for- 
merly a thirteenth-century chapel. 

The organ is commonly supposed to be the 
most ancient in France. It is not of ranking 

459 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

greatness as a work of art, but it is interesting 
to know that it has some redeeming quality, 
aside from its conventional ugliness. 

The tour carree, which is set in the inner 
rampart just in front of the cathedral, is 
known as the Bishop's Tower. It is a tower 
of many stages, and contains some beautifully 
vaulted chambers. 

The celebrated tour des Visigoths, which 
is near by, is the most ancient of all. 

The entrance to the old Cite is via the Pont 
Vieux, which is itself a mediaeval twelfth or 
thirteenth century architectural monument of 
rare beauty. In the middle of this old bridge 
is a very ancient iron cross. 



460 




XV 



CATHEDRALE DE PAMIERS 



" UnE petite ville stir la rive droite de 
VAriege, siege d'un eve chef These few 
words, with perhaps seven accompanying 
lines, usually dismiss this charming little 
Pyrenean city, so far as information for the 
traveller is concerned. 

It is, however, one of these neglected tour- 
ist points which the traveller has ever passed 
by in his wild rush " across country." 

To be sure, it is considerably off the beaten 
track; so too are its neighbouring ancient 

461 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

bishoprics of Mirepoix and St. Bertrand de 
Comminges, and for that reason they are com- 
paratively unspoiled. 

The great and charming attraction of 
Pamiers is its view of the serrated ridge of 
the Pyrenees from the promenade de Cas- 
tellat, just beyond the cathedral. 

For the rest, the cathedral, the fortified 
£glise de Notre Dame dii Camp, the ancient 
]£giise de Cordeliers, the many old houses, 
and the general sub-tropical aspect of the 
country round about, all combine to present 
attractions far more edifying and gratifying 
than the allurements of certain of the Pyre- 
nean '' watering-places." 

The cathedral itself is not a great work; 
its charm, as before said, lies in its environ- 
ments. 

Its chief feature — and one of real distinc- 
tion — is its octagonal clocher, in brick, dating 
from the fourteenth century. It is a singularly 
graceful tower, built after the local manner 
of the Midi of France, of which St. Saturnin 
and the Eglise des Jacobins at Toulouse are 
the most notable. 

Its base is a broad square machicolated 
foundation with no openings, and suggests, 
as truly as does the tower at Albi, a churchly 

462 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

stronghold unlikely to give way before any 
ordinary attack. 

In the main, the church is a rebuilt, rather 
than a restored edifice. The nave, and indeed 
nearly all of the structure, except its dominant 
octagonal tower, is of the seventeenth century. 
This work was undertaken and consummated 
by Mansart after the manner of that period, 
and is far more acceptable than the effect pro- 
duced by most '' restored churches." 

The eleventh-century abbey of St. Antoine 
formed originally the seat of the throne of the 
first bishop of Pamiers, Bernard Saisset, in 
1297. 



463 



XVI 

ST. BERTRAND DE COMMINGES 

To - DAY St. Bertrand de Comminges, the 
ancient Lugdunum Convenarum (through 
which one traces its communistic foundation), 
is possessed of something less than six hundred 
inhabitants. Remains of the Roman ramparts 
are yet to be seen, and its ci-devant cathedral, 
— of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries — 
suppressed in 1790, still dominates the town 
from its heights. Arthur Young, writing in 
the eighteenth century, describes its situation 
thus: ^' The mountains rise proudly around 
and give their rough frame to this exquisite 
little picture." 

The diocese grew out of the monkish com- 
munity which had settled here in the sixth 
century, when the prelate Suavis became its 
first bishop. To-day the nearest bishop's seat 
is at Tarbes, in the archbishopric of Auch. 

As to architectural style, the cathedral pre- 
sents what might ordinarily be called an un- 

464 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

desirable mixture, though it is in no way 
uninteresting or even unpleasing. 

The west front has a curious Romanesque 
doorway, and there is a massiveness of wall 
and buttress which the rather diminutive pro- 
portions of the general plan of the church 
make notably apparent. Otherwise the effect, 
from a not too near view-point, is one of a 
solidity and firmness of building only to be 
seen in some of the neiorhbourinor fortress- 
churches. 

A tower of rather heavy proportions is to- 
day capped with a pyramidal slate or tim- 
bered apex after the manner of the western 
towers at Rodez. From a distance, this fea- 
ture has the suggestion of the development 
of what may perhaps be a local type of 
clocher. Closer inspections, when its tempo- 
rary nature is made plain, disabuses this idea 
entirely. It is inside the walls that the great 
charm of this church lies. It is elaborately 
planned, profuse in ornament, — without be- 
ing in any degree redundant, — and has a 
warmth and brilliancy which in most Roman- 
esque interiors is wanting. 

This interior is representative, on a small 
scale, of that class of structure whose dis- 
tinctive feature is what the French architect 

465 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

calls a nef unique, meaning, in this instance, 
one of those great single-chambered churches 
without aisles, such as are found at Perpignan, 
new Carcassonne, Lodeve, and in a still more 
amplified form at Albi. 

There are of course no aisles; and for a 
length of something over two hundred feet, 
and a breadth of fifty-five, the bold vault — 
in the early pointed style — roofs one of the 
most attractive and pleasing church interiors 
it is possible to conceive. 

Of the artistic accessories it is impossible 
to be too enthusiastic. There are sixty-six 
choir-stalls, most elaborately carved in wood 
— perhaps mahogany — of a deep rich col- 
ouring seldom seen. Numerous other sculp- 
tured details in wood and stone set off with 
unusual effect the great and well-nigh win- 
dowless side walls. 

The organ buffet of Renaissance workman- 
ship — as will naturally be inferred — is a 
remarkably elaborate work, much more to be 
admired than many of its contemporaries. 

Among the other decorative features are an 
elaborately conceived " tree of Jesse," an un- 
usually massive rood-loft or ]uhe, and a high- 
altar of much magnificence. 

The choir is surrounded by eleven chapels, 

466 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

showing in some instances the pure pointed 
style, and in the latter ones that of the Renais- 
sance. 

A fourteenth-century funeral monument of 
Bishop Hugh de Castillione is an elaborate 
work in white marble; while a series of 
paintings on the choir walls, — illustrating 
the miracles of St. Bertrand, — though of a 
certain crudity, tend to heighten the interest 
without giving that effect of the overelabora- 
tion of irrelative details not unfrequently seen 
in some larger churches. 

At St. Bertrand de Comminges and the 
cathedrals at Aries, Cavaillon, and Aix-en- 
Provence, Elne-en-Roussillon, and Le Puy- 
en-Velay are conserved — in a more or less 
perfect state of preservation — a series of de- 
lightful twelfth-century cloisters. These 
churches possess this feature in common with 
the purely monastic houses, whose builders 
so frequently lavished much thought and care 
on these enclosed and cloistered courtyards. 

As a mere detail — or accessory, if you 
will, — an ample cloister is expressive of 
much that is wanting in a great church which 
lacks this contributory feature. 

Frequently this part was the first to suc- 
cumb to the destroying influence of time, and 

467 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

leave a void for which no amount of latter- 
day improvement could make up. Even here, 
while the cloister ranks as one of the most 
beautiful yet to be seen, it is part in a ruinous 
condition. 



468 




XVII 



ST. JEAN - BAPTISTE D'AIRE 



This city of the Landes, that wild, bleak 
region of sand-dunes and shepherds, abuts 
upon the more prosperous and fertile terri- 
tory of the valley of the Adour. By reason 
of this juxtaposition, its daily life presents a 
series of contrasting elements as quaint and 
as interesting as those of the bordering 
Franco-Spanish cities of Perpignan and 
Bayonne. 

From travellers in general, and lovers of 
architecture in particular, it has ever received 

469 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

but scant consideration, though it is by no 
means the desert place that early Victorian 
writers would have us believe. It is in reality 
a well-built mediaeval town, with no very 
lurid events of the past to its discredit, and, 
truthfully, with no very marvellous attributes 
beyond a certain subtle charm and quaintness 
which is perhaps the more interesting because 
of its unobtrusiveness. 

It has been a centre of Christian activity 
since the days of the fifth century, when its 
first bishop, Marcel, was appointed to the 
diocese by the mother-see of Auch. 

The cathedral of St. Jean-Baptiste belongs 
to the minor class of present-day cathedrals, 
and is of a decidedly conglomerate architec- 
tural style, with no imposing dimensions, and 
no really vivid or lively details of ornamenta- 
tion. It was begun in the thirteenth century, 
and the work of rebuilding and restoration has 
been carried on well up to the present time. 



470 



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XVIII 

STS. BENOIT ET VINCENT DE CASTRES 

Castres will ever rank in the mind of the 
wayfarer along the byways of the south of 
France as a marvellous bit of stage scenery, 
rather than as a collection of profound, or 
even highly interesting, architectural types. 

It is one of those spots into which a trav- 
eller drops quite unconsciously en route to 
somewhere else; and lingers a much longer 
time than circumstances would seem to justify. 

This is perhaps inexplicable, but it is a 
fact, which is only in a measure accounted for 
by reason of the "local colour" — whatever 
that vague term of the popular novelist may 
mean — and customs which weave an entan- 
glement about one which is difficult to resist. 

The river Agout is as weird a stream as its 
name implies, and divides this haphazard lit- 
tle city of the Tarn into two distinct, and quite 
characteristically different, parts. 

4/1 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Intercourse between Castres and its fau- 
bourg, Villegondom, is carried on by two 
stone bridges; and from either bank of the 
river, or from either of the bridges, there is 
always in a view a ravishingly picturesque 
ensemble of decrepit walls and billowy roof- 
tops, that will make the artist of brush and 
pencil angry with fleeting time. 

The former cathedral is not an entrancingly 
beautiful structure; indeed, it is not after the 
accepted " good form " of any distinct archi- 
tectural style. It is a poor battered thing 
which has suffered hardly in the past; notably 
at the hands of the Huguenots in 1567. As it 
stands to-day, it is practically a seventeenth- 
century construction, though it is yet unfin- 
ished and lacks its western fagade. 

The vaulting of the choir, and the chapels 
are the only constructive elements which war- 
rant remark. There are a few paintings in 
the choir, four rather attractive life-size stat- 
ues, and a series of severe but elegant choir- 
stalls. 

The former eveche is to-day the Hotel de 
Ville, but was built by Mansart in 1666, and 
has a fine escalier in sculptured stone. 

As a centre of Christianity, Castres is very 



472 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

ancient. In 647 there was a Benedictine 
abbey here. The bishopric, however, did 
not come into being until 13 17, and was sup- 
pressed in 1790. 



473 



XIX 

NOTRE DAME DE RODEZ 

The cathedral at Rodez, whose diocese 
dates from the fifth century and whose first 
bishop was St. Amand, is, in a way, reminis- 
cent — in its majesty of outline and dominant 
situation — of that at Albi. 

It is not, however, after the same manner, 
but resembles it more particularly with re- 
spect to its west fagade, which is unpierced 
in its lower stages by either doorway or 
window. 

Here, too, the entrance is midway in its 
length, and its front presents that sheer flank 
of walled barrier which is suggestive of noth- 
ing but a fortification. 

This great church — for it is truly great, 
pure and simple — makes up in width what 
it lacks in length. Its nave and aisles are just 
covered by a span of one hundred and twenty 
feet, — a greater dimension than is possessed 

474 




N 



UlKE DAMb 
de RODEZ . . 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

by Chartres or Rouen, and nearly as great 
as Paris or Amiens. 

Altogether Notre Dame de Rodez is a most 
pleasing church, though conglomerate as to 
its architecture, and as bad, with respect to 
the Renaissance gable of its fagade, as any 
contemporary work in the same style. 

Rodez lacks, however, the great enfolding 
tower central of Albi. 

This mellow and warm-toned cathedral, 
from its beginnings in the latter years of the 
thirteenth century to the time when the Re- 
naissance cast its dastardly spell over the 
genius who inspired its original plan, was the 
result of the persevering though intermittent 
work of three centuries, and even then the two 
western towers w^ere left incomplete. 

This perhaps was fortunate; otherwise they 
might have been topped with such an excres- 
cence as looms up over the doorless west 
fagade. 

The Gascon compares the pyramidal roofs 
which cap either tower — and with some just- 
ness, too — to the pyramids of Egypt, and 
for that reason the towers are, to him, the 
most wonderful in the universe. Subtle hu- 
mour this, and the observer will have little 
difficulty in tracing the analogy. 

475 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Still, they really are preferable, as a decora- 
tive feature, to the tomb-like headboard 
which surmounts the central gable which they 
flank. The ground-plan is singularly uni- 
form, with transepts scarcely defined — ex- 
cept in the interior arrangements — and yet 
not wholly absent. 

The elaborate tower, called often and with 
some justification the hejfroi, which flanks, 
or rather indicates, the northerly transept, is 
hardly pure as to its Gothic details, but it 
is a magnificent work nevertheless. 

It dates from 1510, is two hundred and 
sixty-five feet high, and is typical of most of 
the late pointed work of its era. The final 
stage is octagonal and is surmounted by a 
statue of the Virgin surrounded by the Evan- 
gelists. This statue may or may not be a 
worthy work of art; it is too elevated, how- 
ever, for one to decide. 

The decorations of the west front, except 
for the tombstone-like Renaissance gable, are 
mainly of the same period as the north tran- 
sept tower, and while perhaps ultra-florid, 
certainly make a fine appearance when 
viewed across the Flace d'Armes. 

This west front, moreover, possesses that 
unusual attribute of a southern church, an 

476 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

elaborate Gothic rose window; and, though 
it does not equal in size or design such mag- 
nificent examples as are seen in the north, 
at Reims, Amiens, or Chartres, is, after all, 
a notable detail of its kind. 

The choir, chevet, and apside are of mas- 
sive building, though not lacking grace, in 
spite of the absence of the arcs-boutants of the 
best Gothic. 

Numerous grotesque gargoyles dot the eaves 
and gables, though whether of the spout vari- 
ety or mere symbols of superstition one can 
hardly tell with accuracy when viewed from 
the ground level. 

The north and south portals of the tran- 
septs are of a florid nature, after the manner 
of most of the decorations throughout the 
structure, and are acceptable evidence of the 
ingenious craft of the stone-carver, if noth- 
ing more. 

The workmanship of these details, how- 
ever, does not rise to the heights achieved by 
the architect who outlined the plan and 
foundation upon which they were latterly 
imposed. They are, too, sadly disfigured, the 
tympanum in the north portal having been 
disgracefully ravished. 

The interior arrangements are doubly im- 

477 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

pressive, not only from the effect of great 
size, but from the novel colour effect — a sort 
of dull, glowing pink which seems to pervade 
the very atmosphere, an effect which con- 
trasts strangely with the colder atmosphere 
of the Gothic churches of the north. A curi- 
ous feature to be noted here is that the sus- 
taining walls of the vault rest directly on 
piers sans capitals; as effective, no doubt, as 
the conventional manner, but in this case 
hardly as pleasing. 

Two altars, one at either end of nave and 
choir, duplicate the arrangement seen at 
Albi. 

The organ buffet, too, is of the same mas- 
siveness and elaborateness, and is consequently 
an object of supreme pride to the local au- 
thorities. 

It seems difficult to make these useful and 
necessary adjuncts to a church interior of the 
quality of beauty shared by most other ac- 
cessories, such as screens, altars, and choir- 
stalls, which, though often of the contempo- 
rary Renaissance period, are generally beau- 
tiful In themselves. The organ-case, however, 
seems to run either to size, heaviness, or gro- 
tesqueness, or a com.bination of all. This Is 
true in this case, where its great size, and 

478 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

plentifully besprinkled rococo ornament, and 
unpleasantly dull and dingy " pipes " are of 
no aesthetic value whatever. The organ, 
moreover, occupies the unusual position — in 
a French church — of being over the western 
doorway. 

The nave is of extreme height, one hundred 
and ten feet, and is of unusual width, as are 
also the aisles. 

The rose window, before remarked, shows 
well from the inside, though its glass is not 
notable. 

A series of badly arched lancets in the 
choir are ungraceful and not in keeping with 
the other constructive details. The delicately 
sculptured and foliaged screen or juhe at the 
crossing is a late fifteenth-century work. 

In one of the chapels is now to be seen, in 
mutilated fragments, the ancient sixteenth- 
century cloture du chceiir. It was a remark- 
able and elaborate work of bizarre stone- 
carving, which to-day has been reconstructed 
in some measure approaching its former com- 
pleteness by the use of still other fragments 
taken from the episcopal palace. The chief 
feature as to completeness and perfection is the 
doorway, which bears two lengthy inscrip- 
tions In Latin. The facing of the cloture 

479 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

throughout is covered with a range of pilas- 
ters in Arabesque, but the niches between are 







Choir-stalls, Rodez 

to-day bare of their statues, if they ever really 
possessed them. 

The choir-stalls and bishop's throne in 
carved wood are excellent, as also an elab- 

480 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

orately carved wooden grille of a mixed Ara- 
besque and Gothic design. 

There are four other chapel or alcove 
screens very nearly as elaborate ; all of w^hich 
features, taken in conjunction one with the 
other, form an extensive series of embellish- 
ments such as is seldom met with. 

Two fourteenth-century monuments to 
former prelates are situated in adjoining 
chapels, and a still more luxurious work of 
the same period — the tomb of Gilbert de 
Cantobre — is beneath an extensive altar 
which has supposedly Byzantine ornament of 
the tenth century. 

Rodez was the seat of a bishop (St. 
Amand) as early as the fifth century. 

Then, as now, the diocese was a suffragan 
of Albi, whose first bishop, St. Clair, came 
to the mother-see in the century previous. 



481 



XX 

STE. CECILE D'ALBI 

The cathedral of Ste. Cecile d'Albi is one 
of the most interesting, as well as one of the 
most curious, in all France. It possesses a 
quality, rare among churches, which gives it 
at once the aspect of both a church and a 
fortress. 

As the representative of a type, it stands 
at the very head of the splendid fortress- 
churches of feudal times. The remarkable 
disposition of its plan is somewhat reflected 
in the neighbouring cathedral at Rodez and 
in the church at Esnades, in the Department 
of the Charente-Inferieure. 

In the severe and aggressive lines of the 
easterly, or choir, end, it also resembles the 
famous church of St. Francis at Assisi, and 
the ruined church of Sainte Sophie at Fama- 
gousta in the Island of Cyprus. 

It has been likened by the imaginative 
French — and it needs not so very great a 

482 




s 



T. CECILE 

d'ALBI . . 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

stretch of the imagination, either — to an im- 
mense vessel. Certainly its lines and propor- 
tions somewhat approach such a form; as 
much so as those of Notre Dame de Noyon, 
which Stevenson likened to an old-time craft 
with a high poop. A less aesthetic compari- 
son has been made with a locomotive of gigan- 
tic size, and, truth to tell, it is not unlike that, 
either, with its advancing tower. 

The extreme width of the great nave of this 
church is nearly ninety feet, and its body is 
constructed, after an unusual manner, of a 
warm, rosy-coloured brick. In fact the only 
considerable portions of the structure not so 
done are the cloture of the choir, the window- 
mullions, and the flamboyant Gothic porch 
of the south side. 

By reason of its uncommon constructive 
elements, — though by no means is it the sole 
representative of its kind in the south of 
France, — Ste. Cecile stands forth as the most 
considerable edifice of its kind among those 
which were constructed after this manner of 
Roman antiquity. 

Brickwork of this nature, as is well known, 
is very enduring, and it therefore makes much 
for the lasting qualities of a structure so built; 
much more so, in fact, than the crumbling soft 

483 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

stone which is often used, and which crumbles 
before the march of time like lead in a fur- 
nace. 

Ste. Cecile was begun in 1282, on the ruins 
of the ancient church of St. Croix. It came 
to its completion during the latter years of 
the fourteenth century, when it stood much 
as it does to-day, grim and strong, but very 
beautiful. 

The only exterior addition of a later time 
is the before-remarked florid south porch. 
This baldaquin is very charmingly worked 
in a light brown stone, and, while flamboyant 
to an ultra degree, is more graceful in design 
and execution than most works of a contem- 
porary era which are welded to a stone fabric 
whose constructive and decorative details are 
of quite a distinctly different species. In 
other words, it composes and adds a graceful 
beauty to the brick fabric of this great church ; 
but likely enough it would offend exceedingly 
were it brought into juxtaposition with the 
more slim lines of early Gothic. Its detail 
here is the very culmination of the height 
to which Gothic rose before its final debase- 
ment, and, in its spirited non-contemporane- 
ous admixture with the firmly planted brick 
walls which form its background, may be 

484 



The Cathedrals of Sotithern France 

reckoned as a baroque in art rather than as 
a thing outre or misplaced. 

In further explanation of the peculiar for- 
tress-like qualities possessed by Ste. Cecile, it 
may be mentioned here that it was the out- 
come of a desire for the safety of the church 
and its adherents which caused it to take this 
form. It was the direct result of the terrible 
wars of the Albigenses, and the political and 
social conditions of the age in which it was 
built, — the days when the Church was truly 
militant. 

Here, too, to a more impressive extent than 
elsewhere, if we except the papal palace at 
Avignon, the episcopal residence as well takes 
on an aspect which is not far different from 
that possessed by some of the secular chateaux 
of feudal times. It closely adjoins the cathe- 
dral, which should perhaps dispute this. In 
reality, however, it does not, and its walls and 
foundations look far more worldly than they 
do devout. As to impressiveness, this strong- 
hold of a bishop's palace is thoroughly in 
keeping with the cathedral itself, and the 
frowning battlement of its veritable donjon 
and walls and ramparts suggests a deal more 
than the mere name by which it is known 
would justify. Such use as it was previously 

485 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

put to was well served, and the history of the 
troublous times of the mediaeval ages, when 
the wars of the Protestants, '' the cursed Albi- 
genses," and the natural political and social 
dissensions, form a chapter around which 
one could weave much of the history of this 
majestic cathedral and its walled and fortified 
environment. 

The interior of the cathedral will appeal 
first of all by its very grand proportions, and 
next by the curious ill-mannered decorations 
with which the walls are entirely covered. 
There is a certain gloom in this interior, in- 
duced by the fact that the windows are mere 
elongated slits in the walls. There are no 
aisles, no triforium, and no clerestory; noth- 
ing but a vast expanse of wall with bizarre 
decorations and these unusual window pierc- 
ings. The arrangement of the openings in 
the tower are even more remarkable — what 
there are of them, for in truth it is here that 
the greatest likeness to a fortification is seen. 
In the lower stages of the tower there are no 
openings ^ whatever, while above they are 
practically nothing but loopholes. 

The fine choir-screen, in stone, is consid- 
ered one of the most beautiful and magnifi- 
cent in France, and to see it is to believe the 

486 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

statement. The entire cloture of the choir 
is a wonderful piece of stonework, and the 
hundred and twenty stalls, which are within 
its walls, form of themselves an excess of elab- 
oration which perhaps in a more garish light 
would be oppressive. 

The wall-paintings or frescoes are deci- 
dedly not beautiful, being for the most part 
crudely coloured geometrical designs scat- 
tered about with no relation one to another. 
They date from the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries, and are doubtless Italian as to their 
workmanship, but they betray no great skill 
on the part of those unknowns who are re- 
sponsible for them. 

The pulpit is an unusually ornate work for 
a French church, but is hardly beautiful as 
a work of art. No more is the organ-case, 
which, as if in keeping with the vast interior, 
spreads itself over a great extent of wall space. 

Taken all in all, the accessories of the ca- 
thedral at Albi, none the less than the unique 
plan and execution thereof, the south porch, 
the massive tower, the ]uhe and cloture of the 
choir, the vast unobstructed Interior, and the 
outre wall decorations, place It as one of the 
most consistently and thoroughly completed 
edifices of Its rank In France. Nothing ap- 

487 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

parently is wanting, and though possessed of 
no great wealth of accessory — if one excepts 
the choir enclosure alone — it is one of those 
shrines which, by reason of its very individ- 
uality, will live long in the memory. It has 
been said, moreover, to stand alone as to the 
extensive and complete exemplification of 
'' Fart decoratif " in France ; that is, as being 
distinctively French throughout. 

The evolution of these component elements 
took but the comparatively small space of 
time covered by two centuries — from the 
fourteenth to the sixteenth. The culmination 
resulted in what is still to be seen in all its 
pristine glory to-day, for Ste. Cecile has not 
suffered the depredation of many another 
shrine. 

The general plan is distinctly and indige- 
nously French; French to the very core — 
born of the soil of the Midi, and bears no re- 
semblance whatever to any exotic from an- 
other land. 

With the decorative elements the case may 
be somewhat qualified. The baldaquin — 
like the choir-screen — more than equals in 
delicacy and grace the portals of such mas- 
terworks as Notre Dame de Rouen, St. Ma- 
clou, or even the cathedral at Troyes, though 

488 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of less magnitude than any of these examples. 
On the other hand, it was undoubtedly in- 
spired by northern precept, as also were the 
ornamental sculptures in wood and stcne 
which are to be seen in the interior. / 

Albi was a bishopric as early as the fourth 
century, with St. Clair as its first bishop. At 
the time the present cathedral was begun it 
became an archbishopric, and as such it has 
endured until to-day, with suffragans at Ro- 
dez, Cahors, Mende, and Perpignan. 



489 



XXI 

ST. PIERRE DE MENDE 

In the heart of the Gevaudan, Mende is 
the most picturesque, mountain-locked little 
city imaginable, with no very remarkable fea- 
tures surrounding it, nor any very grand arti- 
ficial ones contained within it. 

The mountains here, unlike the more fruit- 
ful plains of the lower Gevaudan, are covered 
with snow all of the winter. It is said that 
the inhabitants of the mountainous upper 
Gevaudan used to " go into Spain every win- 
ter to get a livelihood." Why, it is difficult 
to understand. The mountain and valley 
towns around Mende look no less prosperous 
than those of Switzerland, though to be sure 
the inhabitants have never here had, and per- 
haps never will have, the influx of tourists 
*^ to live off of," as in the latter region. 

During an invasion of the Alemanni into 
Gaul, in the third century, the principal city 
of Gevaudan was plundered and ruined. The 

490 



The Cathedrals of Sottthern France 

bishop, St. Privat, fled into the Cavern of 
Memate or Mende, whither the Germans fol- 
lowed and killed him. 

The holy man was interred in the neigh- 
bouring village of Mende, and the venera- 
tion which people had for his memory caused 
them to develop it into a considerable place 
Such is the popular legend, at any rate. 

The city had no bishop of its own, however, 
until the middle of the tenth century. Pre- 
viously the bishops were known as Bishops 
of Gevaudan. At last, however, the prelates 
fixed their seat at Mende, and ^' great num- 
bers of people resorted thither by reason of 
the sepulchre of St. Privat." 

By virtue of an agreement with Philippe- 
le-Bel, in 1306, the bishop became Count of 
Gevaudan. He claimed also the right of 
administering the laws and the coining of 
specie. 

Mende is worth visiting for itself alone and 
for its cathedral. It is difficult to say which 
will interest the absolute stranger the more. 

The spired St. Pierre de Mende is but a 
fourteenth-century church, with restorations 
of the seventeenth, but there is a certain grim- 
ness and primitiveness about its fabric which 



491 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

would otherwise seem to place it as of a much 
earlier date. 

The seventeenth-century restorations 
amounted practically to a reconstruction, as 
the Calvinists had partly destroyed the fabric. 
The two fine towers of the century before 
were left standing, but without their spires. 

The city itself lies at a height of over 
seven hundred kilometres, and the pic rises 
another three hundred kilometres above. The 
surrounding ^' green basin of hillsides " en- 
closes the city in a circular depression, which, 
with its cathedral as the hub, radiates in long, 
straight roadways to the bases of these ver- 
dure-clad hills. 

It is not possible to have a general view 
of the cathedral without its imposing back- 
ground of mountain or hilltops, and for this 
reason, while the entire city may appear 
dwarfed, and its cathedral likewise dimin- 
ished in size, they both show in reality the 
strong contrasting effect of nature and art. 

The cathedral towers, built by Bishop de la 
Rovere, are of sturdy though not great pro- 
portions, and the half-suggested spires rise 
skyward in as piercing a manner as if they 
were continued another hundred feet. 

As a matter of fact one rises to a height of 

492 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

two hundred and three feet, and the other 
to two hundred and seventy-six feet, so at 
least, they are not diminutive. The taller of 
these pleasing towers is really a remarkable 
work. 

The general plan of the cathedral is the 
conventional Gothic conception, which was 
not changed in the seventeenth-century recon- 
struction. 

The nave is flanked with the usual aisles, 
which in turn are abutted with ten chapels 
on either side. 

Just within the left portal is preserved the 
old bourdon called la Non-Pareille, 3. curi- 
osity which seems in questionable taste for 
inclusion within a cathedral. 

The rose window of the portal shows In the 
interior with considerable effect, though it Is 
of not great elegance or magnificence of itself. 

In the Chapelle des Catechismes, immedi- 
ately beneath the tower, Is an unusual " As- 
sumption." As a work of art its rank is not 
high, and Its artist is unknown, but In Its con- 
ception it is unique and wonderful. 

There are some excellent wood-carvings In 
the Chapelle du Baptistere, a description 
which applies as well to the stalls of the choir. 

Around the sanctuary hang seven tapes- 

493 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

tries, ancient, it is said, but of no great beauty 
in themselves. 

In a chapel on the north side of the choir 
is a ^' miraculous statue " of la Vierge Noir. 

The organ buffet dates from 1640, and is 
of the ridiculous overpowering bulk of most 
works of its class. 

The bishopric, founded by St. Severein in 
the third century at Civitas Gabalorum, was 
reestablished at Mende in the year 1000. 

The Ermitage de St. Privat, the holy shrine 
of the former habitation of the holy man 
whose name it bears, is situated a few kilo- 
metres away on the side of Mont Mimat. It 
is a favourite place of pilgrimage, and from 
the platform of the chapel is to be had a fine 
view of the city and its cathedral. 



494 



XXII 

OTHER OLD - TIME CATHEDRALS IN AND ABOUT 
THE BASIN OF THE GARONNE 

Dax 

At Dax, an ancient thermal station of the 
Romans, is a small cathedral, mainly modern, 
with a portal of the thirteenth century. 

It was reconstructed from these thirteenth- 
century remains in the seventeenth century, 
and exhibits no marks of beauty which would 
have established its ranking greatness even 
at that time. 

Dax was a bishopric in the province of 
Auch in the third century, but the see was 
suppressed in 1802. 

Eauze 

Eauze was an archbishopric In the third 
century, when St. Paterne was its first dig- 

495 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

nitary. Subsequently — in the following cen- 
tury — the archbishopric was transferred to 
Auch. 

As Elusa it was an important place in the 
time of Caesar, but was completely destroyed 
in the early part of the tenth century. Eauze, 
therefore, has no church edifice which ever 
ranked as a cathedral, but there is a fine 
Gothic church of the late fifteenth century 
which is, in every way, an architectural mon- 
ument worthy of remark. 

Lombez 

The bishopric of Lombez, in the ancient 
ecclesiastical province of Toulouse, endured 
from 1328 (a tenth-century Benedictine abbey 
foundation). 

Its first bishop was one Roger de Com- 
minges, a monk who came from the monastic 
community of St. Bertrand de Comminges. 

The see was suppressed in 1790. 

St. Papoul 

St. Papoul was a bishopric from 13 17 
until 1790. Its cathedral is in many respects 



496 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

a really fine work. It was an ancient abbatial 
church in the Romanesque style, and has an 
attractive cloister built after the same manner. 



Rieux is perhaps the tiniest ville of France 
which has ever possessed episcopal dignity. 
It is situated on a mere rivulet — a branch 
of the Arize, which itself is not much more, 
but which in turn goes to swell the flood of 
La Garonne. Its one-time cathedral is per- 
haps not remarkable in any way, though it 
has a fine fifteenth-century tower in brique. 
The bishopric was founded in 1370 under 
Guillaume de Brutia, and was suppressed in 
1790. 

Lavaur 

Lavaur was a bishopric, in the ecclesias- 
tical province of Toulouse, from 13 17 to 
1790. 

Its cathedral of brick is of the fourteenth 
century, with a clocher dating from 1515, and 
a smaller tower, embracing a jacquemart, of 
the sixteenth century. 

In the interior is a fine sixteenth-century 



497 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

painting, but there are no other artistic treas- 
ures or details of note. 

Oloron 

Oloron was a bishopric under St. Gratus 
in the sixth century; it ceased its functions as 
the head of a diocese at the suppression of 
1790. 

The former cathedral of Ste. Marie is a 
fine Romanic-Ogivale edifice of the eleventh 
century, though its constructive era may be 
said to extend well toward the fifteenth be- 
fore it reached completion. There is a re- 
markably beautiful Romanesque sculptured 
portal. The nave is doubled, as to its aisles, 
and is one hundred and fifty feet or more 
in length and one hundred and six wide, an 
astonishing breadth when one comes to think 
of it, and a dimension which is not equalled 
by any minor cathedral. 

There are no other notable features beyond 
the general attractiveness of its charming 
environment. 

The ancient eveche has a fine Romanesque 
tower, and the cathedral itself is reckoned, 
by a paternal government, as a '' monument 
historique/' and as such is cared for at pub- 
lic expense. 

498 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Vabres 

Vabres was a bishopric which came into 
being as an aftergrowth of a Benedictine 
foundation of the ninth century, though its 
episcopal functions only began in 13 18, and 
ceased with the Revolutionary suppression. 
It was a suffragan in the archiepiscopal dio- 
cese of Albi. 

Its former cathedral, while little to be 
remarked to-day as a really grand church 
edifice, was by no means an unworthy fane. 
It dates from the fourteenth century, and in 
part is thoroughly representative of the 
Gothic of that era. It was rebuilt in the 
eighteenth century, and a fine clocher added. 

St. Lizier or Couserans 

The present-day St. Lizier — a tiny Pyre- 
nean city — was the former Gallo-Romain 
city of Couserans. It retained this name 
when it was first made a bishopric by St. 
Valere in the fifth century. The see was 
suppressed in 1790. 

The Eglise de St. Lizier, of the twelfth and 
thirteenth centuries, consists of a choir and 
a nave, but no aisles. It shows some traces 

499 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

of fine Roman sculpture, and a mere sugges- 
tion of a cloister. 

The former bishop's palace dates only from 
the seventeenth century. 



Sarlat 

A Benedictine abbey was founded here 
in the eighth century, and from this grew up 
the bishopric which took form in 13 17 under 
Raimond de Roquecarne, which in due course 
was finally abolished and the town stripped 
of its episcopal rank. 

The former cathedral dates from the elev- 
enth and twelfth centuries, and in part from 
the fifteenth. Connected therewith is a sepul- 
chral chapel, called the tour des Maures. It 
is of two etages, and dates from the twelfth 
century. 

St. Pons de Tomiers 

St. Pons is the seat of an ancient bishopric 
now suppressed. It is a charming village — 
it can hardly be named more ambitiously — 
situated at the source of the river Jaur, which 
rises in the Montagnes Noir in Lower Lan- 
guedoc. 



500 



The Cathedrals of Southern France 

Its former cathedral is not of great interest 
as an architectural type, though it dates from 
the twelfth century. 

The fagade is of the eighteenth century, but 
one of its side chapels dates from the four- 
teenth. 

St, Maurice de Mirepoix 

Mirepoix is a charming little city of the 
slopes of the Pyrenees. 

Its ancient cathedral of St. Maurice dates 
from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and 
has no very splendid features or appointments, 
— not even of the Renaissance order, — as 
might be expected from its magnitude. Its 
sole possession of note is the clocher, which 
rises to an approximate height of two hundred 
feet. 

The bishopric was founded in 13 18 by Rai- 
mond Athone, but was suppressed in 1790. 




THE END. 




501 



Appendices 




Sketch map showing the usual geographical divisions of France. 
/., north ; //., northwest ; III., east ; IV., southwest : V., southeast: 
also the present departments into which the government is divided, 
with their names ; and the mediceval provinces which were gradually 
absorbed into the kiftgdom of France. 

There is in general one bishopric to a department. 

The subject-matter of this book treats of all of southtvestern and 
southeastern France ; with, in addition, the departments of Saont-et- 
Loire, fura, Rhdne, Loire, Ain, and Allier. 



II 



A Historical Table of the Dioceses of the 
South of France up to the beginning of 
the nineteenth century. 

Province d'Aix 

Name Diocese founded First bishop Date of 

suppression 

Aix ' Nice, Avignon, AJaccio, attd Digne 'we7'e allied 

therewith in 1802, and Marseilles and Alger in 
1822. 
(Archbishopric) First century (?) St. Maxim (?) 

Antibes Transferred to Grasse 

Apt First century (?) St. Auspice 1790 

Grasse (Jurisdiction over An- 

tibes.) 

Gap Fifth century St. Demetrius 

Riez Fifth century St. Prosper 1790 

Frejus Fourth century Acceptus 

Sisteron Fifth century Chrysaphius 



Province d' Albi 



Albi 

Bishopric 
(Archbishopric) 

Castres 



Mende 



Fourth century 

1317 (?) 

647 as a Benedic- 
tine Abbey. 
1317 as a Bish- 
opric 

Third century at 
Civitas Gabalo- 
rum. Reestab- 
lished here in 
the year 1000 



St. Clair 

Anthime 

Robert, the first 1790 
Abbot 



St. S eve rein 
and Genialis 



Appendices 



Name Diocese founded 



Cahors 

Rodez 

Arisitum 



Vabres 



Fourth century 
Fifth century 

Sixth century de- 
tached from the 
diocese of 
Rodez 

Benedictine 
Abbey, 862. 
Bishopric, 131 7 



First bishop 

St. Genulphe 
St. Amand 
Deothaire 



Date of 
suppression 



Rejoined 
to Rodez 
670 

1790 



Province d' Aries 



Aries 

(Archbishopric) 
Marseilles 


First century 
First century 


St. Trophime 
St. Lazare 


1790 


St. Paul-Trois 
Chateaux, r 
Tricastin 


Second century 


St. Restuit 


1790 


Toulon 


Fifth century 


Honore 


1790 


Orange 


Fifth century 


St. Luce 


1790 



Province d^Auch 



Eauze 


Third century 


St. Paterne 


720 


(Archbishopric) 








Auch 


Fourth century 


Citerius 




(Bishopric then 








Archbishopric) 








Dax 


Third century 


St. Vincent 


1802 


Lectoure 


Sixth century 


Heuterius 


1790 


Comminges 


Sixth century 


Suavis 


1790 


Conserans 


Fifth century 


St. Valere 


1790 


Aire 


Fifth century 


Marcel 




Bazas 


Sixth century 


Sextilius 


(?) 


Tarbes 


Sixth century 


St. Justin 




Oloron 


Sixth century 


Gratus 


1790 


Lescar 


Fifth century 


St. Julien 


1790 


Bayonne 


Ninth century 

505 


Arsias Rocha 





Appendices 



Province d' Avignon 

Name Diocese founded 



Avignon 

(Bishopric, be- 
coming A r c h- 
bishopric in fif- 
teenth century) 

Carpentras 

Vaison 

Cavaillon 



Fourth century 



Third century 
Fourth century 
Fifth century 



Province de Bordeaux 



Bordeaux 

(Bishopric) 
(Archbishopric) 

Agen 

Condom 

(Ancient abbey 
— foundation 
date unknown) 
(Bishopric) 

Angouleme 

Saintes 

Poitiers 

Maillezais 

(afterward at 
La Rochelle) 

Lu9on 

(Seventh-c e n- 
tury abbey) 

Perigueux 

Sarlat 

(Eighth-century 

Benedictine 

abbey) 



Third century 
Fourth century 

Fourth century 



Fourteenth century 
Third century 
Third century 
Third century 
Fourteenth century 

Second century 
1317 



Province de Bo urges 

Third century 
Third century 



Bourges 

(Archbishopric) 
Clermont-Ferrand 



First bishop 

St. Ruf 



Date of 
suppression 



St. 


Valentin 


1790 


St. 


Aubin 


1790 


St. 


Genialis 


1790 



Oriental 
St. Pherade 
Raimond de 
Galard 



St. Ansome 
St. Eutrope 
St. Nectaire 
Geoff roy I. 

Pierre de La 
Veyrie 

St. Front 
Raimond de 
Roquecorne 



1793 



St. Ursin 

St. Austremoine 



506 



Appendices 



Name 



St. Flour 

(Ancient priory) 

Limoges 

Tulle 

(Seventh- c en- 
t u r y Benedic- 
tine abbey) 

Le Puy 



Diocese founded 
I318 



Third century 
1317 



Third century 



Province d^Embrun 

Embrun 

(Archbishopric) Fourth century 
Digne Fourth century 

Antibes Fourth century 

(afterward at 
Grasse) 

Grasse 



Vence 

Glandeve 

Senez 

Nice 

(formerly at 
Cemenelium) 



Fourth century 
Fifth century 
Fifth century 
Fourth century 



Province de Lyon 



First bishop 

Raimond de 

Vehens 
St. Martial 
A r n a u d de 

Saint-Astier 



St. Georges 



Date of 
suppression 



St. Marcellin 


1793 


St. Domnin 




St. Armentaire 




Raimond de 


1790 


Villeneuve 




(1245) 




Eusebe 


1790 


Fraterne 


1790 


Ursus 


1790 



Lyon 

(Archbishopric) 
Autun 
Macon 

Chalon-sur-Saone 
Langres 
Dijon 

(Fo u r t h-cen- 

tury abbey) 

Saint Claude 
(F if t h-century 
abbey) 



The Archbishop of Lyon was Primate of Gaul. 



Second century 
Third century 
Sixth century 
Fifth century 
Third century 
Bishopric in 1731 

Bishopric in 1742 



St. Pothin 
St. Amateur 
Placide 
Paul 
St. Just 
Jean Bonhier 



1790 
1790 



Joseph 
Madet 



de 



Appendices 



Province de Narbonne 



Name D 


Hocese /ounded 


First bishop 


Date 0/ 






suppression 


Narbonne 


Third century 


St. Paul 


1802 


(Archbishopric) 








Saint- Pons-de- 


1318 


Pierre Roger 


1790 


Tomieres (Tenth- 


, 




century abbey) 








Met 


1318 


Barthelmy 


1790 


(Ninth-century 








abbey) 








Beziers 


Fourth century 


St. Aphrodise 


1702 


Nimes 


Fourth century 


St. Felix 




Alais 


1694 


Chevalier de 
Saulx 


1790 


Lodeve 


Fourth century (?) 


St. Flour 


1790 


Uzes 


Fifth century 


Constance 


1790 


Agde 


Fifth century 


St. Venuste 


1790 


Maguelonne 


Sixth century 


Beotius 




(afterward a t 








Montpellier) 








Carcassonne 


Sixth century 


St. Hilaire 




Elne 


Sixth century 


Domnus 




(afterward at 








Perpignan) 








Province de 


Tarentaise 


' 




Tarentaise 


Fifth century 


St. Jacques 




(Archbishopric) 








Sion 


Fourth century 


St. Theodule 




Aoste 


Fourth century 


St. Eustache 




Chambery 


1780 


Michel Conseil 




Province de 


Toulouse 






Toulouse 








(Bishopric) 


Third century 


St. Saturnin 




(Archbishopric) 


1327 






Pamiers 


1297 


Bernard Saisset 




(Eleventh-cen- 








tury abbey) 









508 



Appendices 



Name Diocese fonnded 

Rieux 1317 

Montauban 13^7 

(Ancient abbey) 
Mirepoix 1318 

Saint-Papoul 1317 

Lombes 1328 

(Tenth-century 

abbey) 
Lavaur 13^7 



First bishop ■0«'^' °f 

suppression 

Guillaume 

de Brutia 
Bertrand du Puy 

R ai m o n d i79° 
Athone 

Bernard de la 1790 

Tour 
Roger de Com- 1790 

minges 

Roger d'Arma- 1790 
gnac 



Province de Vienne 

Vienne Second century 

(Archbishopric) 
Grenoble 
Geneve (Switz.) 
Annency 



Valence 
Die 

Viviers 

St. Jean de Mau- 
rienne 



Third century 
Fourth century 
1822 

Fourth century 
Third century 
Fifth century 
Fifth century 



St. Crescent 

Domninus 
Diogene 
Claude de Thi- 

oUaz 
Emelien 
Saint Mars 
Saint Janvier 
Lucien 



1790 



1801 



1790 



509 



Ill 



The Classification of Architectural Styles in 
France according to De Caumonfs ^^ Abe- 
cedaire d' Architecture Religieuse/' 



Architecture 
Romaine 



Architecture 
Ogivale 



Primordiale 
Secondaire 



Tertiaire or 
transition 

Primitive 

Secondaire 

Tertiaire 



From the Vth to the Xth cen- 
turies. 

From the end of the Xth 
century to the beginning of 
the Xllth 

Xllth century 

Xlllth century 

XI Vth century 

XVth and the first part of the 
XVIth century 




lO 



IV 

A Chronology of Architectural Styles in 

France 

Following more or less upon the lines of De Cau- 
mont's territorial and chronological divisions of archi- 
tectural style in France, the various species and periods 
are thus further described and defined : 

The Merovingian period, commencing about 480 ; 
Carlovingian, 751 ; Romanesque or Capetian period, 
987; Transitional, iioo (extending in the south of 
France and on the Rhine till 1300); early French 
Gothic or Pointed {Gothiqiie a lancettes)^ mid-twelfth 
to mid-thirteenth centuries ; decorated French Gothic 
{^Gothique rayonnani)^ from the mid-thirteenth to mid- 
fifteenth centuries, and even in some districts as late as 
the last decade of the fifteenth century ; Flamboyant 
{Gothique flamboyant)^ early fifteenth to early sixteenth; 
Renaissance, dating at least from 1495, which gave 
rise subsequently to the style Louis XIL and style Fran- 
cois I. 

With the reign of Henri II., the change to the 
Italian style was complete, and its place, such as it 
was, definitely assured. French writers, it may be 
observed, at least those of a former generation and be- 



Appendices 

fore, often carry the reference to the style de la Re- 
naissance to a much later period, even including the 
neo-classical atrocities of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries. 

Bizarre or baroque details, or the style perruque^ had 
little place on French soil, and the later exaggerations 
of the rococo^ the styles Pompadour and Dubarri^ had 
little if anything to do with church-building, and are 
relevant merely insomuch as they indicate the manner- 
isms of a period when great churches, if they were 
built at all, were constructed with somewhat of a 
leaning toward their baseness, if not actually favouring 
their eccentricities. 



SI2 



V 



nm 



^ 



Jf^o-^asifica. 'JXCe/rt:. 



l^mBtufd. Crtuiijorm "XLCeniunf 



T^ *^ ^ r\- 



j 



2^e ^matesga^ 
t^ Soui/fem JffaHcei fit 
tSe XT Cenitujy 



Jl/orman Cruxlfo'-'^ 'JlaM/ 



i 



Leading for^ns of early cathedral constructions 
~ 5^3 



The disposition of the parts of a tenth-century 
church, as defined by Viollet-le-Duc 

Of this class are many monastic churches, as will 
be evinced by the inclusion of a cloister in the diagram 
plan. Many of these were subsequently made use of, 
as the church and the cloisters, where they had not 
suffered the stress of time, were of course retained. 
St. Bertrand de Comminges is a notable example among 
the smaller structures. 

In the basilica form of ground-plan, which obtained 
to a modified extent, the transepts were often lacking, 
or at least only suggested. Subsequently they were 
added in many cases, but the tenth-century church pur 
sang was mainly a parallelogram-like structure, with, of 
course, an apsidal termination. 




514 



Appendices 



A The choir 

B The exedra, meaning literally a niche or throne — in this in- 
stance for the occupancy of the bishop, abbot, or prior — 
apart from the main edifice 

C The high-altar 

D Secondary or specially dedicated altars 

E The transepts, which in later centuries expanded and length- 
ened 

G The nave proper, down which was reserved a free passage 
separating the men from the women 

H The aisles 

I The portico or porch which precedes the nave (/. e., the 
narthen of the primitive basilica), where the pilgrims who 
were temporarily forbidden to enter were allowed to wait 

K A separate portal or doorway to cloisters 

L The cloister 

M The towers; often placed at the junction of transept and nave, 
instead of the later position, flanking the west fa9ade 

N The baptismal font ; usually in the central nave, but often in 
the aisle 

O Entrance to the crypt or confessional, where were usually pre- 
served the reliques of the saint to whom the church was 
erected 

P The tribune, in a later day often surrounded by a screen or 
jube 



515 



VII 

A brief definitive gazetteer of the natural and 
geological divisions included in the ancient 
provinces and present-day departments of 
southern France, together with the local 
names by which the pays et pagi are com- 
monly known 



Gevaudan 

Velay 

Ly onn ais-Beau j olais 

Mo r van 

Haute- Auvergne 
Basse-Auvergne 

Limousin 
Agenais 

Haut-Quercy 
Bas-Quercy 

Armagnac 

Landes 

Beam 

Basse-Navarre 



In the Cevennes, a region of forests and 
mountains 

A region of plateaux with visible lava tracks 

The mountain ranges which rise to the west- 
ward of Lyons 

An isolated group of porphyrons and granite 

elevations 
The mountain range of Cantal 

The mountain chains of Mont Dore and des 
Domes 

A land of plateaux, ravines, and granite 
Rocky and mountainous, but with its valleys 
among the richest in all France 

A rolling plain, but with little fertility 

The plains of the Garonne, the Tarn, and 
the Aveyron 

An extensive range of petites montagnes run- 
ning in various directions 

A desert of sand, forests, and inlets of the 
sea 

A country furrowed by the ramifications of 
the range of the Pyrenees 

A Basque country situated on the northern 
slope of the Pyrenees 

516 



Appendices 



Bigorre 
Savoie 

Bourbonnais 

Nivernais 

Berry 

Sologne 

Gatinais 
Saintonge 

Angoumois 

Perigord 

Bordelais 

Dauphine 



Provence 



Camargue 
Languedoc 

Rousillon 



The plain of Tortes and its neighbouring 
valleys 

A region comprising a great number of 
valleys made by the ramifying ranges of 
the Alps. The principal valleys being 
those of Faucigny, the Tarentaise, and the 
Maurienne 

A country of hills and valleys which, as to 
general limits, corresponds with the De- 
partment of the Allier 

An undulating region between the Loire and 
the Morvan 

A fertile plain, slightly elevated, to the 
northward of Limousin 

An arid plain separated by the valleys of the 

Cher and the Indre 
A barren country northeast of Sologne 

Slightly mountainous and covered with vine- 
yards — also in parts partaking of the 
characteristics of the Landes 

A hilly country covered with a growth of 
vines 

An ensemble of diverse regions, often hilly, 
but covered with a luxuriant forest growth 

(Comprising Blayais, Fronsadais, Libournais, 
Entre-deux-mers, Medoc, and Bazadais.) 
The vine-lands of the Garonne, La Gironde, 
and La Dordogne 

Another land of mountains and valleys. It 
is crossed by numbers of ranges and dis- 
tinct peaks. The principal subdivisions 
are Viennois, Royonnais Vercors, Trieves, 
Devoluy, Oisons, Graisivaudan, Chartreuse, 
Queyras Valgodemar, Champsaur. 

A region of fertile plains dominated by vol- 
canic rocks and mountains. It contains 
also the great pebbly plain in the extreme 
southwest known as the Crau 

The region of the Rhone delta 

Properly the belt of plains situated between 

the foot of the Cevennes and the borders 

of the Mediterranean 

The region between the peaks of the Corbi^re 
and the Albere mountain chain. The 
population was originally pure Catalan 



Appendices 



Lauragais 



Albigeois 
Toulousain 

Comminges 



A stony plateau with red earth deposited 
in former times by the glaciers of the 
Pyrenees 

A rolling and fertile country 

A plain well watered by the Garonne and 

the Ariege 
The lofty Pyrenean valleys of the Garonne 

basin 



518 



VIII 




519 



IX 



Dimensions and Chronology 
CATHEDRALE D'AGDE 

Bishopric founded, Vth century 

Bishopric suppressed, 1790 

Primitive church consecrated, Vllth century 

Main body of present cathedral, Xlth to Xllth centuries 

ST. CAPRIAS D'AGEN 




Former cathedral of St. Etienne, destroyed at the Revolution, 1790 
Apse and transepts of St. Caprias, Xlth century 
"Width of nave, 55 feet 

520 



Appendices 
ST. JEAN BAPTISTE D'AIRE 

Cathedral begun, XII Ith century 

ST. SAVEUR D'AIX 




Eglise St. Jean de Malte, XlVth century 

Remains of a former St. Saveur's, Xlth century 

Choir, Xlllth century 

Choir elaborated, XlVth century 

South aisle of nave, XlVth century 

Tower, XlVth century 

Carved doors, 1503 

Episcopal palace, 151 2 

North aisle of nave, XVIIth century 

Baptistere, Vlth century 



ST. JEAN D'ALAIS 

A bishopric only from 1694 to 1790 
Remains of a Xllth century church 



Appendices 



STE. CECILE D'ALBI 




Begun, 1277 

Finished, 151 2 

South porch, 1380-1400 

Tower completed, 1475 

Choir-screen, 1475-1512- 

Wall paintings, XVth to XVIth centuries 

Organ, XVIIIth century 

Choir stalls, 1 20 in number 

Height of tower, 256 feet 

Length, 300 {320 ?) feet 

Width of nave, 88 feet 

Height of nave, 98 feet 



ST. PIERRE D'ALET 

Primitive cathedral, IXth century (?) 

Rebuilt, Xlth century 

Eglise St. Andre, XlVth to XVth centuries 



^22 



Appendices 
ST. PIERRE D'ANGOULEME 




City ravaged by Coligny, XVIth century 

Cathedral rebuilt from foundations of primitive church, 1120 

Western dome, Xllth century 

Central and other domes, latter part of Xllth century 

Episcopal palace restored, XlXth century 

General restoration of cathedral, after the depredations of Coligny, 

1628 
Height of tower, 197 feet 

ST. PIERRE D'ANNECY 

Christianity first founded here, IVth century 
Cathedral dates from XlVth century 
Tomb of St. Francois de Sales, 1622 
Tomb of Jeanne de Chantal, J 641 
Episcopal palace, 1784 



ST. CASTOR D'APT 

Gallo-Romain sarcophagus, Vth century 
Tomb of Dues de Sabron, XTIth century 
Chapelle de Ste. Anne, XVIIth century 



Appendices 
ST. TROPHIME D'ARLES 



1 

St. 


m 


Oaitie^ 




IE 


^ 




d'jTrles 





Primitive church on same site, 606 

Foundations of present cathedral laid, 11 52 

Nave completed, 1200 

Choir and chapels, 1423-1430 

Cloisters, east side, 1221 

Cloisters, west side, 1250 

Cloisters, north side, 1380 

Length, 240 feet 

Width, 90 feet 

Height, 60 feet 

Height of clocher, 137 feet 



STE. MARIE D'AUCH 

Ancient altar, IVth century 

First cathedral built by Taurin II., 845 

Another (larger) by St. Austinde, 1048 

Present cathedral consecrated, 1548 

Additions made and coloured glass added, 1597 

West front, in part, XVIIth century 

Towers, 1 650-1 700 

Episcopal palace, XlVth century 

Length, 347 feet 

Height to vaulting, 74 feet 



Appendices 

NOTRE DAME DES DOMS 
D'AVIGNON 




Territory of Avignon acquired by the Popes from Joanna of 

Naples, 1300 
Popes reigned at Avignon, 1 305-1 370 

Avignon formally ceded to France by Treaty of Tolentino, 1797 
Palais des Papes begun, Xlllth century 
Pope Gregory left Avignon for Rome, 1376 
Cathedral dates chiefly from Xllth century 
Nave chapels, XlVth century 
Frescoes in portal, XlVth century 
Height of walls of papal palace, 90 feet 

♦' '• tower " " " 150 feet 
Length of cathedral, 200 (?) feet 
Width of cathedral, 50 (?) feet 



NOTRE DAME DE BAYONNE 



Foundations, 1140 

Choir and apse, Xllth century 

Destroyed by fire, 1213 

Choir rebuilt, 12 15 

Completed and restored, XVIth century 

525 



Appendices 
ST. JEAN DE BAZAS 

Foundations date from Xth century 

Walls, etc., 1233 

West front, XVIth century 



CATHEDRALE DE BELLEY 

Gothic portion of cathedral, XVth century 

ST. NAZAIRE DE BEZIERS 

Primitive church damaged by fire, 1 209 

Transepts, XTIIth century 

Towers, XlVth century 

Apside and nave, XlVth century 

Glass and grilles, XlVth century 

Cloister, XlVth century 

Height of clocher, 151 feet 

ST. ANDRE DE BORDEAUX 

Three cathedral churches here before the Xlth century 

Romanesque structure, Xlth century 

Present cathedral dates from 1252 

North transept portal, XlVth century 

Noailles monument, 1662 

Length, 450 feet 

Width of nave, 65 feet 

NOTRE DAME DE BOURG 

Main body dates from XVth to XVI Ith centuries 
Choir and apse, XVth to XVIth centuries 
Choir stalls, XVIth century 

c;26 



Appendices 



ST. ETIENNE DE CAHORS 



Bishopric founded, IVth century 
Cathedral consecrated, 1119 
Cupola decorations, 1 280-1 324 
Choir chapels, XVth century 
Choir, 1285 
Tomb of Bishop Solminiac, XVI I th 

century 
Choir paintings, 1315 
Cloister, X Tilth to XVth century 
Cupolas of nave, 50 feet in diameter 
Cupolas of choir, 49 feet in height 
Height from pavement to cupolas of 

choir, 82 feet 
Height from pavement to cupolas of 

nave, 195 feet 
Portal and western towers, XlVth 

century 

ST. NAZAIRE DE 
CARCASSONNE 



Present-day cathedral, St. Michel, in 
lower town, 1083 
Restored by VioUet-le-Duc, 1849 

Visigoth foundation walls of old Cite, Vth to Vlllth centuries 
Cite besieged by the Black Prince, 1536 

Chateau of Cite and postern gate, Xlth and Xllth centuries 
Outer fortifications with circular towers of the time of St. Louis, 

Xlllth century 
Length inside the inner walls, ^ mile 
Length inside the outer walls, i mile 
Saracens occupied the Cite, 783 
Routed by Pepin le Bref, 759 
Viscountal dynasty of Trencavels, 1090 
Besieged by Simon de Montfort, 12 10 
Romanesque nave of St. Nazaire, 1096 
Choir and transepts, XIITth and XlVth centuries 
Remains of Simon de Montfort buried here (since removed), 1218 
Tomb of Bishop Radulph, 1266 
Statues in choir, XlVth century 
High-altar, 1522 
Crypt, Xlth century 
Sacristy, Xlllth century 
The " Pont Vieux," Xllth and XTIIth centuries 




Appendices 
ST. SIFFREIN DE CARPENTRAS 

A Roman colony under Augustus, 1st century 

St. Siffrein, patron of the cathedral, died, XVIth century 

Edifice mainly of the XVIth century 

Paintings in nave, XVIIIth and XlXth centuries 

Tomb of Bishop Buti, 17 lo 

Episcopal palace built, 1640 

Arc de Triomphe, 1st or lid century 

Porte d'Orange, XlVth century 



ST. BENOIT DE CASTRES 

Cathedral dates mainly from XVI Ith century 

ST. VERAN DE CAVAILLON 







O aval 11 on 



Cathedral consecrated by St. Veran, in person, 1259 
Tomb of Bishop Jean de Sade, XVIIth century 

528 



Appendices 



ST. ETIENNE DE CHALONS - SUR 

SAONE 

Cathedral completed, XVIth century 

Rebuilt, after a disastrous fire, XVIIth century 

Remains of early nave, dating from Xlllth century 

Bishopric founded, Vth century 

Height of nave, 90 feet 

Length of nave, 350 feet 



CATHEDRALE DE CHAMBERY 




First bishop, Michel Conseil, 1780 

Main body of cathedral dates from XlVth century 



529 



Appendices 



NOTRE DAME 
DE CLERMONT- 
FERRAND 

Choir and nave, 1 248-1 265 

Urban II. preached the Crusades 

here, 1095 
Sanctuary completed, Xlllth century 
Nave completed, except fagade, 

XlVth century 
Rose windows, XVth century 
Western towers and portal, XlXth 

century 
Height of towers, 340 feet 
Height of nave, 100 feet 





^ectntlu CanijiUted 



Clermont -"^t^errand 



ST. BERTRAND 
DE COMMINGES 



First monastery here, Vlth century 
Present cathedral mainly Xllth to 

XlVth centuries 
First bishop, Suavis, Vlth century 
Monument to Bishop Hugh de Castel- 

lane, XlVth century 
Length, 210 feet (?) 
Width, 55 feet (?) 



CATHEDRALS DE DAX 

Main fabric, Xlllth century 
Reconstructed, XVII Ith century 



530 



Appendices 
NOTRE DAME DE DIE 

A bishopric in 1285, and from 1672 until 1801 

Porch, Xlth century 

Romanesque fragments in " Porte Rouge," Xlth century 

Restored and rebuilt, XVIIth century 

Length of nave, 270 feet 

Width of nave, 76 feet 

CATHEDRALE D'EAUZE 

Town destroyed, Xth century 

Gothic church (not, however, the former cathedral), XVth century 

STE. EULALIE D'ELNE 

Cathedral rebuilt from a former structure, XVth century 
Cloister, XVth century 

NOTRE DAME D'EMBRUN 

North porch and peristyle, Xllth century 
Romanesque tower rebuilt, XlVth century 
The "Tour Brune" Xlth century 
High-altar, XVIIIth century 
Painted triptych, 1518 
Coloured glass, XVth century 
Organ and gallery, XVIth century 

NOTRE DAME DE GRENOBLE 

Foundations of choir, Xlth century 

Tabernacle, XVth century 

Tomb of Abbe Chisse, 1407 

Former episcopal palace, Xlth century 

Present episcopal palace, on same site, XVth century 

Eglise St. Andre, Xlllth century 

" La Grande Chartreuse," founded by St. Bruno, 1084 

" La Grande Chartreuse," enlarged, XVIth to XVIIth centuries 

Monks expelled, i8i6 and 1902 



Appendices 
ST. LOUIS DE LA ROCHELLE 

City besieged unsuccessfully, 1573 
City besieged and fell, XVIIth century 
Huguenots held the city from 1557 to 1629 
Present cathedral dates from 1735 



NOTRE DAME 
DE LE PUY 

First bishop, St. Georges, Hid cen- 
tury 
Primitive cathedral, Vth century 
West fa9ade of present edifice, 

Xllth century 
Choir, Xth century 
Virgin of Le Puy, 50 feet in height 
Aguille de St. Michel, 250 feet in 
height, 50 feet in circumference 
at top, 500 feet at base 




J^moges 




-a — a — n-TT 



.yTiZ). Zs -^"^ 



ST. ETIENNE DE 
LIMOGES 

Nave, XVth and XVIth centuries 

Romanesque portion of nave, Xlth 
century 

Lower portion of tower, Xlth century 

Clocher, Xlllth century 

Choir, Xlllth century 

Transepts, XI Vth and XVth cen- 
turies 

Choir-screen, 1543 

Coloured glass, XVth and XlXth 
centuries 

Tomb of Bishop Brun, 1349; de la 
Porte, 1325 ; Langeac, 1541 

Crypt, Xlth century 

Height of clocher, 240 feet 

Enamels of reredos, XVIIth century 



Appendices 



ST. FULCRAN DE LODEVE 

City converted to Christianity, 323 
Earliest portion of cathedral, Xth century 
Main portion of fabric, Xllth century 
Cathedral completed, XVIth century 
Tomb of Bishop de la Panse, 1658 
Height of nave, 80 feet 



CATHEDRALE DE LUCON 

Ancient abbey, Vllth century 

First bishop appointed, 131 7 

Richelieu bishop here, 1616^1624 

Main fabric of cathedral dates from Xllth to XVIIth centuries 

Fabric restored, 1853 

Cloister of episcopal palace, XVth century 



c 
1 


Zyon 


* 

1 



ST. JEAN DE 
LYON 

Bridge across Saone, Xth century 
Earliest portions of cathedral, 1180 
Concile generale of the Church held 

at Lyons, 1245 and 1274 
Portail, XVth century 
Glass of choir, Xlllth and XlVth 

centuries 
Great bourdon, 1662 
Weight of great bourdon, 10,000 kilos 
Chapelle des Bourbons, XVth century 
Astronomical clock, XVIth and 

XVIIth centuries 



533 



Appendices 

STE. MARIE MAJEURE DE MAR- 
SEILLES 

First bishop, St. Lazare, 1st century 

Ancient cathedral built upon the ruins of a temple to Diana, Xlth 

century 
New cathedral begun, 1852 
Practically completed, 1893 
Length, 460 feet 
Height of central dome, 197 feet 

ST. JEAN DE MAURIENNE 

Relique of St. Jean Baptiste, first brought here in Vlth century 
Cloister, 1452 

ST. PIERRE DE MENDE 

First bishop, Xth century 

Main fabric of cathedral, XlVth century 

Restoration, XVIIth century 

Towers, XVIth century 

Organ-case, 1640 

Height of western towers, 203 and 276 feet 

ST. PIERRE DE MONTPELLIER 

Bishopric removed here from Maguelonne, 1 536 
Pope Urban V. consecrated present cathedral in a former Benedic- 
tine abbey, 1364 
Length of nave, 181 feet 
Width of nave, 49 feet 
Length of choir, 43 feet 
Width of choir, 39 feet 

NOTRE DAME DE MOULINS 

Towers and west front, XlXth century 

Choir and nave, 1 465-1 507 

Coloured glass, XVth and XVIth centuries 

Choir restoration completed, 1885 

Sepulchre, XVIth century 

Height of western spires, 312 feet 

Chateau of Dues de Bourbon (facing the cathedral) XlVth century 

534 



Appendices 



ST. JUST DE NARBONNE 



fh. 



1 

I . 



^y^aroonne 



Choir begun, 1272-1330 

Choir rebuilt, XVII Ith century 

Remains of cloister, XlVth and XVth century 

Towers, XVth century 

Tombs of bishops, XlVth to XVIth centuries 

Organ buffet, 1741 

Height of choir vault, 120 (127?) feet 



ST. CASTOR DE NIMES 

St. Felix the first bishop, IVth century 

St. Castor as bishop, 1030 

Cathedral damaged by wars of XVIth and XVI Ith centuries 

Length of grande axe of Arena, 420 feet 

Capacity of Arena, 80,000 persons 

535 



Appendices 
STE. MARIE D'OLORON 

Earliest portions, Xlth century 
Completed, XVth century 
Length of nave, 150 feet 
Width of nave, 106 feet 



NOTRE DAME D'ORANGE 





Orange 





Oldest portions, 1085 
Nave, 1085-1126 



CATHEDRALE DE PAMIERS 

Clocher, XlVth century 

Nave rebuilt, XVIIth century 

Ancient Abbey of St. Antoine, Xlth century 

First bishop, Bernard Saisset, 1297 



536 



Appendices 









t 



w 



jre'r/^ueujC 



ST. FRONT DE 
PERIGUEUX 

Primitive monastery founded, Vlth 

century 
Cathedral dates from 984-1047 
Cathedral rebuilt, Xllth century 
Cathedral restored, XlXth century 
Pulpit in carved wood, XVIIth 
Confessionals, Xth or Xlth century 
Paintings in vaulting, Xlth century 
Length of nave, 197 feet 
Height of pillars of nave, 44 feet 
Height of cupola of clocher, 217 feet 
Height of great arches in interior, 65 

feet 



ST. JEAN DE PERPIGNAN 



d^ 



^i 



cn 



r^iy 



nan 



Tower, XlVth century 
Re table, XIV century 
Altar-screen, XIV th century 
Bishop's tomb, 1695 

537 



Appendices 
ST. PIERRE DE POITIERS 




^veche' 



\ 



S. Piera 



of s. Tean 



^o /' ^ i 



Eglise St. Hilaire, Xth and Xlth centuries 

Baptistere, IVth to Xllth centuries 

St. Radegonde, Xlth and Xllth centuries 

Cathedral begun, 1162 

High-altar dedicated, 11 99 

Choir completed, 1250 

Western doorway, XVth century 

Coloured glass, Xlllth and. XVIIIth centuries 




Appendices 



NOTRE DAME DE RODEZ 



1 

■ 


/ 




■s 


1 


■ 


^Je^ 



Dates chiefly from 1275 
Choir, XlVth century 
Nave, XVth century 

Cross-vaults, tribune, sacristy door, and facade, from about 1535 
Cloture of choir designed by Cusset 

Terrace to episcopal palace designed by Philandrier, 1550 
Episcopal palace itself dates, in the main, from XVIIth century 
Rose window of fa9ade is the most notable in France south of the 
Loire, excepting Poitiers 



ST. PIERRE DE SAINTES 

Eglise St. Eutrope, 1 081-1096 

Primitive cathedral, 11 17 

Cathedral rebuilt, 1585 

First two bays of transept, Xllth century 

Nave completed, XVth century 

Vaulting of choir and nave, XVth to XVIIth centuries 

Height of flamboyant tower (XlVth century), 236 feet 



539 



Appendices 
CATHEDRALE DE SARLAT 

Benedictine abbey dates from Vlllth century 
Cathedral mainly of Xlth and Xllth centuries 
Sepulchral chapel, Xllth century 



CATHEDRALE DE SION 

First bishop, St. Theodule, IVth century 
Choir of Eglise Ste. Catherine, Xth or Xlth century 
Bishop of Sion sent as papal legate to Winchester, 1070 
Main body of cathedral, XVth century 



ST. PIERRE DE ST. CLAUDE 

Abbey founded by St. Claude, Vth century 

Bishopric founded by Jos. de Madet, 1742 

Bishopric suppressed, 1790 

Bishopric revived again, 1821 

Main fabric of cathedral, XlVth century 

Cathedral restored, XVIIIth century 

Length, 200 feet (approx.) 

Width, 85 feet " 

Height, 85 feet " 



ST. ODILON DE ST. FLOUR 

Bishopric founded, 13 18 

Present cathedral begun, 1375 
'* " dedicated, 1496 

" " completed, 1556 

Episcopal palace, 1800 

Chateau de St. Flour, 1000 



ST. LISIER OR COUSERANS 

Former cathedral, Xllth and Xlllth centuries 
Bishop's palace, XVIIth century 



Appendices 



STE. MARIE MAJEURE DE TOULON 

Main body of fabric, Xlth and Xllth centuries 
Fa9ade, XVIIth century 
Length of nave, i6o feet 
Width of nave, 35 feet 



ST. ETIENNE DE TOULOUSE 




Nave, Xlllth century 

Tower, XVth and XVIth century 

Choir, 1275-1502 

Bishopric founded, Illd century 

Archbishopric founded, 1327 

Width of nave, 62 feet 



541 



Appendices 
ST PAUL TROIS CHATEAUX 




Chapel to St. Restuit first erected here, IVth century 
Town devastated by the Vandals, Vth century 
" " " " Saracens, 736 

" " " " Protestants, XlVth century 

" " " " Catholics, XlVth century 

Former cathedral, Xlth and Xllth centuries 



CATHEDRALE DE TULLE 

Benedictine foundation, Vllth century 

Cloister, Vllth century (?) 

Bishopric founded, 131 7 

Romanesque and transition nave, Xllth century 



ST. THEODORIT D'UZES 

Inhabitants of the town, including the bishop, mostly became 

Protestant, XVIth century 
Cathedral rebuilt and restored, XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries 
Tour Fenestrelle, Xlllth century 
Organ-case, XVIIth century 
Height of the " Tour Fenestrelle," 130 feet 



Appendices 



CATHEDRALE DE VAISON 

Cloister, Xlth century 

Eglise de St. Quinin, Vllth century 




ST. APOLLINAIRE DE VALENCE 

Cathedral rebuilt and reconsecrated by Urban II., Xlth oentury 

Reconstructed, 1604 

Bishopric founded, IVth century 

Foundations laid, Xllth century 

Cenotaph to Pius VI., 1799 

Height of tower, 187 feet 



CATHEDRALE DE VABRES 

Principally, XlVth century 

Rebuilt and reconstructed, and clocher added, XVIIIth century 

543 



Appendices 
NOTRE DAME DE VENCE 

Fabric of various eras, Vlth, Xth, Xllth, and XVth centuries 
Ratable, XVIth century 
Choir-stalls, XVth century 

ST. MAURICE DE VIENNE 

Bishopric dates from lid century 
St. Crescent, first bishop, ii8 
Cathedral begun, 1052 
Reconstructed, 151 5 
Coloured glass, in part, XlVth century 
Tomb of Cardinal de Montmorin, XVIth century 
Metropolitan privileges of Vienne confirmed by Pope Paschal II., 
1099 

CATHEDRALE DE VIVIERS 

Choir, XlVth century 

Tower, XlVth and XVth centuries 



544 



INDEX 



Abbey of Cluny, 59, 61 . 
Abbey of Montmajour, 230. 
Acre, 56. 
Adelbert, Count of P^rigueux, 

38. 
Adour, River, 417. 
Agde, 53, 358, 359. 
Agde, Cathedrale de, 358-360, 

520. 
Agen, 42, 429. 
Agen, St. Caprais de, 429, 431, 

520. 
Agout, River, 471. 
Aigues-Mortes, 228, 319, 320. 
Aire, St. Jean Baptiste de, 469, 

470, 521. 
Aix, 36, 230, 283, 293, 323, 324. 
Aix St. Jean de Malte, 324, 
Aix, St. Sauveur de, 323-327, 

521. 
Ajaccio, 47. 
Alais, 249-251. 

Alais, St. Jean de, 249-251, 521. 
Alberoni, Cardinal, 240. 
Albi, 27, 41, 53, 54, 61, 95, 98, 

274. 
Albi, Ste. Cecile de, 363, 482-489, 

522. 
Albigenses, The, 365, 485, 486. 
Alet, 42. 

Alet, St. Pierre de, 350, 351, 522. 
Amantius, 330. 
Amiens, 60, 62. 
Andorra, Republic of, 373. 
Angers, Chateau at, 66. 



Angers, St. Maurice d', 97. 
Angouleme, 55, 61, 73, 120, 124. 
Angouleme, St. Pierre de, 73, 

120-125, 523. 
Anjou, 45. 71- 
Anjou, Duke of, 40, 44. 
Anjou, Henry Plantagenet of, 

39- 
Anjou (La Trinite), 56. 
Annecy, 252-254, 256. 
Annecy, St. Pierre de, 252-254, 

523- 
Antibes, 330, 339, 341. 
Aosti, 268. 
Apt, 289-291. 
Apt, St. Castor de, 523. 
Aquitaine, 38, 62. 
Aquitanians, The, 38. 
Aquitanian architecture, 54, 55, 

66. 
Arc de Triomphe (Saintes), 115. 
Architecture, Church, 50-56. 
Ariosto, 235. 
Aries, 28, 23^ 61, 217, 228-235, 

283, 293. 
Aries, Archbishop of, 46. 
Aries, St. Trophime de, 37, 202, 

228-235, 524- 
Arnaud, Bishop, 354. 
Auch, St. Marie de, 432-438, 524. 
Auch, College of, 438. 
Augustus, 221. 
Autun, Bishop of (Talleyrand- 

Perigord), 46. 
Auvergne, 29, 62, 72-74. 



545 



Index 



Auzon, 221. 

Avignon, 2,2,y 4i» 53' 54, 241. 

Avignon, Papal Palace at, 377, 

485. 
Avignon, Notre Dame des Doms, 

204-220, 525. 
Avignon, Ruf d', 36. 

Baptistere of St. Siffrein de Car- 

pentras, 222. 
Baptistere, The (Poitiers), 95, 

96, lOI. 
Basilique de Notre Dame de 

Fourviere, 185. 
Bayonne, 28, 57, 373, 387, 405- 

407, 410, 411. 
Bayonne, Notre Dame de, 405- 

410, 525. 
Bazas, St. Jean de, 411, 412, 526. 
Bazin, Rene, 229, 235. 
Beam, Province of, 395, 406. 
Beauvais, Lucien de, 37. 
Becket, Thomas <i, 1 1 1 . 
Belley, 267. 

Belley, Cathedrale de, 526. 
Benedict XII., Pope, 211, 216. 
Benigne, 171. 
Berengarius II., 371. 
Berri, 71, 72. 
Besan9on, 267, 274. 
Besan9on, Lin de, 36. 
Bethanie, Lazare de, 36. 
Bezard, 431. 
Beziers, 53, 363-365. 
Beziers, Bishop of, 365. 
Beziers, St. Nazaire de, 363-367, 

526. 
Bichi, Alexandri, 224. 
Bishops of Carpentras, 221. 
Bishop of Ypres, 48. 
" Black Prince," The, 418, 453. 
Blois, Chtteau at, 66. 
Breakspeare, 230. 
Bretagne, Slabs in, 64. 
Bridge of St. Benezet, 219. 
Bordeaux, 57, 384, 387, 396, 397, 

401. 
Bordeaux, St. Andre de, 94, 396- 

401, 526. 



Bossuet, Bishop, 420. 

Bourasse, Abbe, 83, 89, 328, 354, 

433- 
Bourbons, The, 126, 127, 130. 
Bourg, 277-279. 
Bourg, Notre Dame de, 277-279, 

526. 
Bourges, 41, 62. 
Bovet, Frangois, 281. 
Boyan, Bishop, 247. 
Buti, Bishop Laurent, 224. 

Caesar, 171. 

Cahors, 42, 44, 425, 428. 

Cahors, St. Etienne de, 425-428, 

527- 
Cairene type of mosque, 55. 
Calixtus II., 189. 
Canal du Midi, 367. 
Canova, 194, 334. 
Capet, Hugh, 38, 39. 
Carcassonne, 28, 53, 319, 449- 

457- 
Carcassonne, St. Nazaire de, 57, 

319, 449-460, 527. 
Carpentras, 221-226. 
Carpentras, St. Siffrein de, 221- 

225, 528. 
Carton, Dominique de, 224. 
Castres, 42, 471. 
Castres, Sts. Benoit et Vincent de, 

471-473' 528. 
Cathedrale d'Agde, 358-360, 520. 
Cathedrale de Belley, 526. 
Cathedrale de Chambery, 255- 

257, 529. 
Cathedrale de Condom, 420, 421. 
Cathedrale de Dax, 530- 
Cathedrale d'Eauze, 531. 
Cathedrale de Lectoure, 402-404. 
Cathedrale de Lu9on, 85, 86, 

533- 
Cathedrale de Montauban, 422- 

424. 

Cathedrale de Pamiers, 461-463, 

536; 
Cathedrale de Sarlat, 540. 
Cathedrale de Sion, 302-304, 

540. 



546 



Index 



Cathedral of St. Michel, Carcas- 
sonne, 451, 452. 

Cathedrale de Tulle, 118, 119, 
542. 

Cathedrale de Vabres, 543. 

Cathedrale de Vaison, 226, 227, 

543- 
Cathedrale de Viviers, 195, 196, 

544. 
Cavaillon, 226. 
Cavaillon, St. Veran de, 200-203, 

528. 
Cevennes, 30, 72, 76-79, 136. 
Chalons, Simon de, 247. 
Chalons-sur-Saone, St. Etienne 

de, 170-173, 529. 
Chambery, 28, 253, 255-257, 264, 

267, 270. 
Chambery, Cathedrale de, 529. 
Chapelle des Innocents, Agen, 

431- 
Charente, River, 115. 
Charlemagne, 58, 59, 214. 
Charles V., 40, 45, 323. 
Charles VIII., 65. 
Charles the Great, 304. 
Charterhouse, near Grenoble, 62. 
Chartres, 60, 62, 232. 
Chartres, Aventin de, 37. 
Chartreuse, La Grande, 48, 162, 

531- 

Chavannes, Puvis de, 102, 342. 

Chisse, Archbishop, 260. 

Chrysaphius, Bishop, 281. 

Church of St. Satumin (Tou- 
louse), 440-444. 

Church of the Jacobins (Tou- 
louse), 440, 441, 443, 444. 

Clairvaux, 62. 

Clement V., Pope, t,!^^ 211, 398, 
400. 

Clement VI., 219. 

Clermont-Ferrand, 29, 33, 52, 57, 

73. 74- 
Clermont-Ferrand, Notre Dame 

de, 144-151. 530- 
Clermont (St. Austremoine), 37. 
Cluny, Abbey of, 51, 59. 
Coligny, 121. 



Comminges, 464. 
Comminges, Roger de, 496. 
Comminges, St. Bertrande, 62, 

464-468, 530. 
Comte de Nice, 256. 
Condom, 42. 

Condom, Cathedrale de, 420, 421. 
Conflans, Oger de, 271. 
Conseil, Michel, 256. 
Constantin, Palais de, 230. 
Corsica, Diocese of, 47. 
Coucy, Chateau at, 66. 
Coulon, 291. 

Dante, 134. 

Daudet, 165. 

Dauphine, 30, 161, 162, 297, 298. 

Dax, 495. 

Dax, Cathedrale de, 530. 

Delta of Rhone, 168. 

D'Entrevaux, 280. 

De Sade, Laura, 204, 207, 208. 

Deveria, 250. 

Die, Notre Dame de, 287, 288, 

531- 
Digne, 281, 283-286. 
Dijon, 171. 

Dijon, St. Benigne of, 63. 
Dioceses of Church in France, 

39. 40. 
Diocese of Corsica, 47. 
Domninus, 259. 
Dordogne, 29. 

Duclaux, Madame, 25, 229, 235. 
Dues de Sabron, Tomb of, 290. 
Duke of Anjou, 40, 44. 
Dumas, Jean, 433. 
Durance, River, 162, 292. 
Diirer, Albrecht, 325. 

Eauze, 495, 496. 
Eauze, Cathedrale de, 531. 
Edward I., 400. 
Edwards, Miss M. E. B., 24- 
Eglise de Brou, 277. 
Eglise des Cordeliers, 207. 
Eglise de Grasse, 339, 340. 
Eglise de la Grande Chartreuse, 
263. 



547 



Index 



Eglise de St. Andre, 260, 351. 

Eglise de St. Claire, 208. 

Eglise de St. Pol, 75. 

Eglise de Souillac, 55. 

Eglise Notre Dame du Port, 145. 

Eglise St. Nizier, 179. 

Eglise St. Quinin, 227. 

Eleanor of Poitou and Guienne, 

39- 
Elne, 369, 372,373- 
Elne, Ste. Eulalia de, 372-374, 

532- 
Emaux de Limoges, 104-107. 
Embrun, 230, 283, 285, 292-295, 

300. 
Embrun, Notre Dame de, 292- 

29s. 531- 
Escurial of Dauphine, 62. 
Esperandieu, 348. 
Etats du Languedoc, 251. 
Eusebe, 300. 
Evreaux, Taurin d', 37. 

Farel, Guillaume, 298. 

"Felibrage," The, 204, 218. 

Fenelon, 438. 

Fere-Alais, Marquis de la, 251. 

Fergusson, 99. 

Flanders, 30. 

"Fountain of Vauclause," 221. 

Francois I., 65, 120, 124, 354. 

Freeman, Professor, 95, 99. 

Frejus, 330, 335, 336. 

Frejus, St. Etienne de, 335-338. 

Froissart, 417. 

Gap, 296-299. 

Gap, Demetre de, T^d. 

Gap, Notre Dame de V Assomp- 

tion de, 296, 299. 
Gard, 29. 
Gard, Notre Dame de la, 346, 

347- 
Garonne, River, 44, 388, 389. 
Gascogne, 390. . 
Geneva, 252. 
Geraldi, Hugo, 427. 
Gervais, 365. 
Ghirlandajo, 133. 



Glandeve, 280. 
Gosse, Edmund, 29. 
Gothic architecture, 60-65. 
Grasse, 330, 339. 
Grasse, Eglise de, 339, 340. 
Grasse, Felix, 24, 384. 
Gregory XI., Pope, 213. 
Grenoble, 28, 258-264. 
Grenoble, Notre Dame de, 258- 

264, 531. 
Guienne, 41, 389, 390. 
Guienne, Eleanor of, 39. 

Hamerton, Philip Gilbert, 159, 

160, 170. 
Henri IV., 353, 406, 416. 
Honore, 334. 

Hotel d'Aquitaine (Poitiers), 1C2. 
Humbert, Archbishop, 180. 
Humbert, Count, 271. 

Ingres, 423, 424. 
Innocent IV., 201. 
Innocent VI., 225. 
Issiore, 75. 

Jaffa, 56. 

Jalabert, 250. 

James, Henry, 25. 

Janvier, Thomas, 26. 

Joanna of Naples, 209. 

John XXII., Pope, 41, 216, 428. 

Jordaens, 401. 

L'Abbaye de Maillezais, 81. 

Lackland, John, 40. 

La Cathedrale (Poitiers), 96. 

La Chaise Dieu, 62, 75. 

Lac Leman, 252. 

L'Eglise de la Sede Tarbes, 417- 

419- 
" La Grande Chartreuse," 48, 162, 

531- 
Lake of Annecy, 252. 

La Madeleine, Aix, 324, 
Lamartine, 176. 

Languedoc, 32, 40, 44, 390, 391. 
La Rochelle, 73, 82, 83. 



548 



Index 



\jaL Rochelle, St, Louis de, 82-84, 

532- 
La Trinite at Anjou, 56. 
Laura, Tomb of, 2tZ- 
Lavaur, 497, 498. 
Lectoure, 402. 
Lectoure, Cathedrale de, 402- 

404. ^ 
Les Arenes, 240. 
Lescar, 413. 

Lescar, Notre Dame de, 413-416. 
Lesdiguieres, Due de, 298. 
Les Freres du Pont, 220. 
Le Puy, 61, 134-136, 327- 
Le Puy, Notre Dame de, 97, 134- 

143. 532- 
Limoges, 57, 79, 80, 104, 105. 
Limoges (St. Martial), 37. 
Limoges, St. Etienne de, 104- 

III, 532. 
Limousin, 71, 72. 
Lodeve, 246. 
Lodeve, St. Fulcran de, 152-155, 

533- 
Loire valley, 30. 
Lombardy, ^2^. 
Lombez, 496. 
Lot, 44. 

Loudin, Noel, no. 
Louis IV., 240. 
Louis VII., 39. 
Louis XL, 295. 
Louis XIII., 353. 
Louis XIV., 210, 224. 
Louis XV., 210. 
Louis Napoleon, 397. 
Lozere, 28. 
Lu9on, 42. 
Lu9on, Cathedrale de, 85, 86, 

533- 
Lyon, 28, 177, 178, 259, 267, 273. 
Lyon, St. Jean de, 177-185, 533. 

Macon, St. Vincent de, 174-176. 
Madet, Joseph de, 273. 
Maguelonne, 353, 354. 
Maillezais, 42. 

Maillezais, L'Abbaye de, 81. 
Maine, Henry Plantagenet of, 39. 



Maison Caree, The, 240. 
Mansard, 290. 

Marseilles, 36, 314, 318, 342. 
Marseilles, Ste. Marie-Majeure 

de, 318, 342-349, 534- 
Maurienne, 269-271. 
Maurienne, St. Jean de, 256, 269- 

271, 534- 
Memmi, Simone (of Sienna), 211, 

216. 
Mende, 42, 246, 490, 492. 
Mende in Lozere, 27. 
Mende, St. Pierre de, 490-494, 

534- , 

Merimee, Prosper, 26, 30, 224. 

Metz, Clement de, 36. 

Midi, The,, 383-395. 

Midi, Canal du, 386. 

Mignard, 250, 282, 290. 

Mimat, Mont, 494. 

Mirabeau, 46. 

Mirepoix, 501. 

Mirepoix, St. Maurice de, 501. 

Mistral, Frederic, 163, 165, 218, 
228. 

Modane, 270. 

Mognon, 84. 

Moles, Arnaud de, 436. 

Monastery of La Grande Char- 
treuse, 260. 

Montauban, 422. 

Montauban, Cathedrale de, 422- 
424. 

Mont de la Baume, 282. 

Mont Dore-le-Bains, 74. 

Monte Carlo, 213. 

Montfort, Simon de, 455, 459. 

Montmajour, Abbey of, 230. 

Montpellier, 40, 352-354. 

Montpellier, St. Pierre de, 352- 

357, 534. 
Mont St. Guillaume, 295. 
Morin, Abbe, 36, yj. 
MouUns, Notre Dame de, 126- 

"^liZ^ 534- 



Nadaud, Gustave, 455-457. 
Naples, Joanna of, 209. 
Naples, Kingdom of, 45. 



549 



Index 



Napoleon, 27, 210, 240. 
Narbonne, 42, 53, 54, 241, 375, 

376. 
Narbonne, St. Just de, 375-379> 

535- 
Narbonne (St. Paul), 37. 

Nero, Reign of, 36. 

Neiges, Notre Dame des, 223. 

Nice, St. Reparata de, 328-331. 

Nimes, 28, ^^^ 40, 61, 218, 228, 

229, 236-242. 

Nimes, St. Castor de, 236-244, 

535- 
Notre Dame de I'Assomption de 

Gap, 296-299. 

Notre Dame de Bayonne, 405- 
410, 525. 

Notre Dame de Bourg, 277-279, 
526. 

Notre Dame de Clermont-Fer- 
rand, 144-151, 530. 

Notre Dame de Die, 287, 288, 

531- 
Notre Dame de Doms d'Avi- 

gnon, 204-220, 525. 

Notre Dame d'Embrun, 292-295, 

531- 
Notre Dame de la Gard, 346, 

347- 

Notre Dame de la Grande (Poi- 
tiers), 95. 

Notre Dame de Grenoble, 258- 
264, 531. 

Notre Dame de Le Puy, 97, 134- 

143. 532. 
Notre Dame de Lescar, 413-416. 
Notre Dame de Moulins, 126- 

i33» 534- 
Notre Dame des Neiges, 223. 
Notre Dame d'Orange, 197-199, 

536. 
Notre Dame de Rodez, 363, 474- 

481, 539- 
Notre Dame et St. Castor d'Apt, 

289-291. 
Notre Dame de Vence, 300, 301, 

544- 
Notre Dame du Port, 57. 
Noyon, 60. 



Obreri, Peter, 212. 

Oloron, 498, 536. 

Oloron, Ste. Marie d', 498, 536. 

Orange, 28, 33, 61, 225, 229. 

Orange, Notre Dame d', 197- 

199' 536. 
Orb, River, 366, 367. 
Order of St. Bruno, 260, 261,^263. 

Palais de Justice (Poitiers), I02. 
Palais des Papes, 54, 209. 
Palais du Constantin, 230. 
Palissy, Bernard, 117. 
Pamiers, 461. 
Pamiers, Cathedrale de, 461-463, 

536. 
Paris, 29, 37, 46, 62, 232, 270. 
Parrocel, 290. 

Pascal, Blaise, 150, 151, 160. 
Paschal II., 189. 
Pas de Calais, 30. 
Pause, Plantavit de la, 154. 
Perigueux, 55-57, 61. 
Perigueux, St. Front de, 56, 87- 

91, 97, 537- 
Perpignan, 28, 368, 369, 373. 
Perpignan, St. Jean de, 368-371, 

537- 
Petrarch, 204, 207-209, 211, 213, 

221, 264. 
Peyer, Roger, 242. 
Philippe-Auguste, 40. 
Philippe-le-Bel, 41. 
Piedmont, 270. 
Pierrefonds, Chateau at, 66. 
Pius VI., 194. 
Pius, Pope, 210. 
Plantagenet, Henry (of Maine 

and Anjou), 39. 
Poitiers, 42, 73, 95-97, I'z^l- 
Poitiers, Notre Dame de la 

Grande, 95. 
Poitiers (St. Hilaire), 61. 
Poitiers, St. Pierre de, 92-101, 

538. 
Poitou, 71-73. 
Poitou, Eleanor of, 39. 
Polignac, Chateau de, 75, 76* 

135. 143- 



550 



Index 



Port Royal, 45. 

Provence, 32, 62, 163-167, 313. 

Proven9al architecture, 54, 55, 

57, 66. 
Ptolemy, 159. 
Puy, Bertrand du, 422. 
Puy de Dome, 29, 73, 74. 
Puy, Notre Dame de la, 97, 134- 

143, 532- 
Pyrenees, The, 393-395. 

Religious movements in France, 

23-48. 
Rene, King, 323, 326. 
Revoil, Henri, 348. 
Rheims, 60, 62, 229, 
Rheims, Sixte de, 37. 
Rhone valley, 28. 
Richelieu, Cardinal, 85. 
Rienzi, 211. 
Rieux, 497. 
Riez, 280, 281. 
Riom, 73. 

Riviera, The, 313-320. 
Rochefort, 73. 
Rocher des Doms, 213. 
Rodez, 29, 42, 274. 
Rodez, Notre Dame de, 363, 474- 

481, 539- 
Rouen, 60. 

Rouen, Nicaise de, 37. 
Rouen (St. Ouen), 52. 
Rousillon, 368, 369, 372. 
Rousseau, 256. 
Rovere, Bishop de la, 492. 
Rubens, 340. 
Ruskin, 63. 

St. Albans in Hertfordshire, 230. 
St. Andre de Bordeaux, 94, 396- 

401, 526. 
St. Ansone, 121. 
St. Apollinaire de Valence, 190- 

i94» 543- 
St. Armand, 474, 481. 
St. Armentaire, 339, 341. 
St. Astier, Armand de, 119. 
St. Aubin, 226. 
St. Auspice, 289. 



St. Austinde, 433, 435. 

St. Austremoine, 37, 150. 

St. Ayrald, 271. 

St. Benezet, 219. 

St. Benigne of Dijon, 63. 

St. Benoit de Castres, 471-473, 

528. 
St. Bertrand de Comminges, 62, 

464-468, 530. 
St. Bruno, Monks of, 260-263. 
St. Caprais d' Agen, 429, 431, 

520. 
St. Castor d'Apt, 523. 
St. Castor de Nimes, 236-244, 

535- 
Ste. Catherine, Church of, 303. 
St. Cecile d'Albi, 363, 482-489, 

522. 
St. Clair, 489. 

Ste. Clara de Mont Falcone, 217. 
St. Claude, 272-274. 
St. Claude, St. Pierre de, 272- 

274, 540. 
St. Crescent, 37, 186, 296. 
St. Demetrius, 296. 
St. Denis, The bishop of, 37. 
St. Denis, 51. 
St. Domnin, 285. 
St. Emilien, 253. 
Ste. Estelle, 218. 
St. Etienne, 230. 
St. Etienne d'Auxerre, 407. 
St. Etienne de Cahors, 425-428, 

527; 

St. Etienne de Chalons-sur-Saone, 

170-173, 529- 
St. Etienne de Frejus, 335-338. 
St. Etienne de Limoges, 1 04-1 11, 

532- 
St. Etienne de Toulouse, 439- 

448, 541. 
St. Eulalie d'Elne, 372-374, 531. 
St. Eustache, 268. 
St. Eutrope (Saintes), 115-117. 
St. Felix, 241. 
St. Flour, St. Odilon de, 112- 

114, 540. 
St. Frangois de Sales, 253. 
St. Fraterne, 280. 



551 



Index 



St. Front de Perigueux, 56, 87- 

91. 97, 537- 
St. Fulcran de Lodeve, 152-155, 

533- 
St. Gatien (Tours), 37. 

St. Genialis, 201. 

St. Georges, 137. 

St. Gilles, 232. 

St. Hilaire, 61, 95, 96. 

St. Honorat des Alyscamps, 231. 

St. Jean d'Alais, 249-251, 521. 

St. Jean-Baptiste d'Aire, 469, 470, 

521. 

St. Jean de Bazas, 411, 412, 526. 

St. Jean de Lyon, 177-185, 533. 

St. Jean-de-Malte, Aix, 324. 

St. Jean de Maurienne, 256, 269- 

271, 534. 
St. Jean de Perpignan, 368-371, 

537- 
Ste. Jeanne de Chantal, 253. 
St. Jerome deDigne, 28 1,283-286. 
St. Julian, 413. 
St. Juste de Narbonne, 375-379) 

535- 
St. Lizier, 499, 540. 

St. Lizier, Eglise de, 499, 500, 

540. 
St. Louis de La Rochelle, 82-84, 

532- 
St. Marcellin, 285. 
St. Marc's at Venice, 56, 87-89, 

346, 425. 
Ste. Marie d'Auch, 432-438, 524. 
Ste. Marie d'Oloron, 498, 536. 
Ste. Marie Majeure de Marseilles, 

318, 342-349' 534. 
Ste. Marie Majeure de Toulon, 

332-334, 541- 
St. Mars, 287. 
Ste. Marthe, 134. 
St. Martial, 37, 107. 
St. Martin (Tours), 6i. 
St. Maurice, 304. 
St. Maurice d'Angers, 97. 
St. Maurice de Mirepoix, 501. 
St. Maurice de Vienne, 179, 184, 

186-189, 193, 544- 
St. Maxine, 324. 



St. Michel, 142. 

St. Nazaire de Beziers, 363-367, 

526. 
St. Nazaire de Carcassonne, 57, 

319, 449-460, 527. 
St. Nectaire, 73, 74, 92. 
St. Odilon de St. Flour, 112-I14, 

540. 
St. Ouen de Rouen, 52. 
St. Papoul, 496, 497. 
St. Paul (Narbonne), 37. 
St. Paul Trois Chateaux, 305- 

309, 542. 
St. Pherade, 430. 
St. Pierre d'Alet, 350, 351, 522. 
St. Pierre d'Angouleme, 73, 120- 

125, 523- 
St. Pierre d'Annecy, 252-254, 

523- 
St. Pierre de Mende, 490-494, 534. 

St. Pierre de Montpellier, 352- 

357, 534- 
St. Pierre de Poitiers, 92-101, 538. 
St. Pierre de Saintes, 115-117, 

539- 
St. Pierre de St. Claude, 272-274, 

540. 
St. Pons, 42. 

St. Pons de Tomiers, 500, 501. 
St. Pothin, 179. 
St. Privat, 491, 494. 
St. Prosper, 281. 

St. Radegonde (Poitiers), 95-98. 
St. Remy, 235. 

St. Reparata de Nice, 328-331. 
St. Restuit, 305. 
St. Saturnin (Toulouse), 37. 
St. Sauveur d'Aix, 323-327, 521. 
St. Siffrein de Carpentras, 221- 

225, 528. 
St. Taurin, 433. 
St. Theodorit d'Uzes, 245-248, 

542. 
St. Theodule, 303. 
St. Thomas, 134. 
St. Trophime, 230, 232. 
St. Trophime d'Arles, 37, 202, 

228-235, 524. 
St. Valentin, 221. 



552 



Index 



St. Valere (Treves), 37. 

St. Venuste, 359. 

St. Veran, 301. 

St. Veran de Cavaillon, 200-203, 

528. 
St. Vincent de Macon, 174-176. 
St. Vincent de Paul, Statue of, 

285. 
St. Virgil, 230. 
Saintes, Eutrope de, yj. 
Saisset, Bernard, 463. 
Saone, River, 170, 174, 181. 
Sarlat, 42, 500. 
Sarlat, Cathedrale de, 540. 
Savoie, 30, 252, 256, 271. 
Scott, Sir Walter, 51, 58. 
Senez, 280. 
Senlis, 60. 

Sens, Savinien de, y]. 
Sevigne, Madame de, 392. 
Sion, Cathedrale de, 302-304, 540. 
Sisteron, 281. 
Sterne, 126, 184. 

Stevenson, R. L., 23, 30, 135, 249. 
Strasbourg, 51. 
Suavis, 464. 
Suger, Abbot, 51. 

Talleyrand-Perigord (Bishop of 

Autun), 46. 
Tarascon, Castle at, 66. 
Tarasque, The, 134. 
Tarbes, 417, 418. 
Tarbes, L'Eglise de la S6de, 

417-419. 
Tarentaise, 256, 268, 270. 
Tarn, River, 422. 
Thevenot, 113. 
Toulon, 330, 332. 
Toulon, St. Marie Majeure de, 

332-334, 541- 
Toulouse, 42, 439-441. 
Toulouse, Musee of, 441, 447. 
Toulouse, St. Etienne de, 439- 

448, 541. 
Toulouse, St. Saturnin, 37. 
"Tour Fenestrelle," 247. 
Touraine, 29,71, 72. 
Tours, 29. 



Tours (St. Gatien), 37. 

Tours (St. Martin), 61. 

Treaty of Tolentino, 210. 

Treves (St. Valere), 37. 

Tricastin, 305, 306. 

Trinity Church, Boston, 141,346, 

Tulle, Cathedrale de, 118, 119, 

542. 
Tuscany, T^y 

Unigenitus, Pope, 45. 
Urban, Pope, T^y 
Urban II., 145, 149, 150, 191, 458. 
Urban V., 354. 
Uz6s, 245-248. 

Uz6s, St. Theodorit de, 245-248, 
542. 

Vabres, 42, 499. 

Vabres, Cathedrale de, 543. 

Vaison, 226, 227. 

Vaison, Cathedrale de, 226, 227, 

543- 
Valence, 29. 

Valence, St. Apollinaire de, 190- 

194, 543- 
Vaucluse, 208. 
Vaudoyer, Leon, 348. 
Vehens, Raimond de, 112. 
Venasque, 222. 
Vence, 300, 301. 
Vence, Notre Dame de, 300, 301, 

544; 

Vendee, La, 72. 

Veronese, Alex., 401. 

Veyrie, Rene de la, 85. 

Veyrier, 334. 

Vic, Dominique de, 434. 

Vienne, 29, 61, 229, 253, 259, 273, 

296. 
Vienne, St. Maurice, 179, 184, 

186-189, 193, 544. 
Villeneuve-les-Avignon, 213. 
Villeneuve, Raimond de, 339. 
VioUet-le-Duc, 88, 131, 146, 377, 

442, 452, 455. 
Viviers, Cathedrale de, 195, 196, 

544- 
Voltaire, 273. 



553 



Index 



Werner, Archbishop, 51. 
Westminster Cathedral, London, 

345- 
William of Wykeham (England), 

51- 
William, Duke of Normandy, 39. 



Wykeham, William of, 51. 

Young, Arthur, 24, 208, 256, 273, 

464. 
Ypres, Bishop of, 48. 



BD -2.16 



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